To avoid the company leaving Panama, Tocumen has proposed Viva Colombia to move its operation to Colón airport and to reduce to $10 the airport fee.

Arguing that this would benefit the airline company, authorities at Tocumen reported that they sent a proposal to executives of the airline Viva Colombia, to move their operations to the terminal Enrique Jiménez de Colón.

Regarding the advantages that this could represent for the airline, Carlos Duboy, manager of Tocumen S.A. explained to Prensa.com that “… ‘It makes sense for the company to move to Colón, because that is where the cruise home port operations are and a significant number of the passengers who board ships every Friday are Colombians.“

Regarding the refusal to lower the airport tax in Panama Pacifico, Duboy added that “ … it is not feasible for Tocumen to reduce airport charges in that terminal, as requested by Viva Colombia, because that would be ‘a blow’ for the public limited company, which last week issued 225 million dollars in bonds in order to continue funding its expansion plan.“

At the beginning of May, the low-cost airline announced that it would stop flying between Panama and the cities of Medellín and Bogotá, citing high operating costs and the increase in the airport tax.