Proposed New Airport

New airport in the central region of the country

10 November, 2008 12:00:00 Sherly Díaz / The Panama Post
sherly.diaz@ rimolamedios. com

It would be an airport to transfer passengers from Europe and the Americas. There are several European airlines interested in financing  this project.

The evaluations that the Autoridad Aeronáutica Civil (Authority of Civil Aeronautics (AAC) of Panamá has made to the runway at Río Hato, in the province of Coclé, have been favorable and for this reason the authorities have decided that the best alternative is the construction of a new terminal area to the south of Antón and Penonomé

Currently the only part of this airport that has the suitable conditions to operate general light aviation is at the south end of the Pan-American Highway towards the beach.

“The crossing of the Pan-American route is an obstacle, we cannot exceed the current vehicle traffic there, it cannot vary nor be obstructed and the only runway availability is the south bound and its sporadically used by some aircraft for the beach area destination”, said Gregorio Montecer, adviser to the AAC.

These operations are not commercial nor are they charter flights, but of individuals that use this runway.

The technical evaluations of the runway of Hato River have been completed, but the conditions of its pavement do not allow regular operations of heavy aircraft, nor flights of internal airlines that could have constant operations in that infrastructure, because the life expectancy of the pavement has been surpassed.

Another aspect that has presented complications for this airport is that the urban area is growing with new tourist projects and forces the restrictions to the airport to begin to be affected.

Looking for a location

The AAC, the Ministry of Economy and Finances (MEF) and the Tourism Authority of Panamá (ATP) have worked in analyzing some alternatives for the construction of a new airport inside the country.

The most viable solution would be the construction of a new airport in the central region of the country, which doesn’t necessarily have to be located in Río Hato. At the moment some areas are evaluated that could be considered of interest between the south of Antón and Penonomé.

Montecer, explained that the exact place to construct the new airport not yet has been selected, since they contracted the Inter-American Development Bank (I.A.D.B.) to conduct a study that defines a national airport strategy with the purpose of identifying the place of the new terminal area soon, so as to promote it in the private sector.

There are several European airlines interested in investing and developing the airport because it would be an aerial terminal that could serve to transfer passengers from Europe and America towards their destinations.

This new airport needs to become an interconnection point with the Americas, even, when the documents are elaborated, we must contemplate the opportunity to construct hotels, casinos, shopping centers for the greater comfort of the passengers.

Fidel Reyes, vice-president of the Panamanian Chamber of Tourism (Camtur), said that at the moment there are already companies with interest inside the country where the only thing that restrains them is the aerial connectivity.

The executive thinks that the initiative to construct a new airport inside the country is an urgent character necessity and must be accompanied by a hotel infrastructure adapted to the size and demand that these flights can generate, at the moment only the Decameron, Playa Blanca and Melia in Colón have the size to receive a large amount of tourists.

“An alternate airport would allow the small hotels of the interior to increase their occupancy during the week and become more attractive to the tourists who fill the capital city which is promoted through tour operators who continuously have to deal with obstacles and long trips to the interior including wearing down of equipment and fuel consumption”, he said.

The characteristics

The new aerial terminal has to become “the country’s airport of the future”, with an area greater than that of Tocumen, projected for 50 years so that it can be an airport of more than 4,000 meters of runway for heavy aviation. Its location not only must benefit Panamá to take passengers to the projects of development in Azuero and Chiriquí, but also serve at a regional level.

Panamá has a good geographic location and it allows regional aviation to work for Panamá with points of interconnection of passengers, cargo or mail with much ease.

In the area that has been identified for the new airport are no beaches, it has good meteorological conditions, rains do not affect aviation and in addition the topography is good since they are very flat areas and the lands are assigned to agricultural aspects that do not have an elevated city planning alternative.

There are foreign investors interested in the airport and that have been analyzing the potential of the area, but the study of the I.A.D.B. is going to be given to the national government and to the AAC for the endorsement to be able to look for the way to construct it.

“The state would not construct the new airport, but the private sector would. Also we would look for mechanism so that the airport is handled by the private sector, which still has not occured in Panamá”, commented Montecer.

With this study a profile of the airport has been defined and the contracting of a specialist who analyzes the details of the project. The AAC hopes that between February and March of 2009 the document is prepared and that it will be the departure point to go ahead with this project.

Benefits

By not affecting the zone of Rio Hato we will continue with the success of tourism development in the area, that is to say, that we will be able to develop many projects in Rio Hato, Farallón, Santa Clara all the way to Juan Hombrón.

This is going to allow the construction of buildings higher than the present which has not occurred due to the existence of the airport of Rio Hato.

The place that is chosen to construct the new central airport is going to be injected with new economic activities. Once it begins air terminal operations it could generate a new point of economic development.

For Reyes, the connectivity and the distances are definitive points to choose a tourist destination. To the majority of the tourists do not like to travel great distances.

Having an option for a short distance via air travel will allow tour operators to offer more ampler ranges of products to the visitor and at the same time Panamá would be more competitive with the destinations of the region.

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