QCOSTARICA — Legislators decided to speed up the discussion of the bill that seeks to promote cheap flights between Costa Rica and other Central American countries.
The objective of bill 24,207 is to have air tickets that do not exceed US$126 round trip, that is, around ¢62,400 colones at today’s current exchange rate.
Earlier this week, with the support of 31 of 57 legislators, a waiver of processing this initiative was approved, thus eliminating a legislative commission for its ordinary processing, but will instead be directly discussed in the legislative plenary session.
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The proposed legislation aims to create a specific system with reduced taxes and charges for inexpensive tickets for travel within Central America, including Belize and Panama, as well as to and from the Dominican Republic.
Eli Feinzaig, head of the Partido Liberal Progresista (PLP) faction and proponent of the initiative, explained that the project was based on a study carried out by the World Bank, which identified that flights within Central America are much more expensive per kilometer than in other areas of Latin America, and that much of this is due to the fact that the combination of taxes and airport fees is a large component of the cost.
Feinzaig mentioned that, in Costa Rica, these taxes and fees currently represent US$58.38 (about ¢30,000 colones) per flight.
An example, currently a one-way flight on Sansa between San Jose and Managua, on April 16 is US$285.
A flight on Avianca Airlines between San Jose and Panama City, on the same date, is US$195, meanwhile, a one-way ticket between San Jose and Miami is US$150.
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As the legislator explained, conversations have already been had with airlines and airport operators and they have shown their willingness to collaborate and offer competitive rates that meet the requirements established in the proposal.
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