Air Travel Expanding as Ecuador Exits the Covid Era

2023 -- Cuenca to initiate international flights.

Certification of international status for Cuenca's

airport is in the works .. and flights to Peru and

Colombia will be the first international routes.

Cuenca flights to and from the USA are not

yet planned, apparently due to a relatively small

customer base for such service.

Upgrades of the airport's facilities are planned

for this year as well.

More details at www.cuencahighlife.com

¨cuenca airport expects international flights in 2023¨

Manta to Panama.

With pandemic fears largely subsided, Manta's

airport has been approved for international

flights this summer.

One of the early routes will debut in June,

between Manta and Panama City, Panama.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Non-stop to the Paisa capital.

The prominent Colombian airline Avianca has

restarted non-stop flights from Quito to Medellin,

three evenings a week.

The one-hour flights, as listed at cheapoair.com,

have a base fare of $207 or slightly higher if flying

in the coming weeks.

cccmedia in Santander, Colombia

Face lift for major Ecuadorian airport.

From Cuenca comes word that the airport

will close for two months for the installation

of new drainage, lighting and asphalt.

El Mercurio reports that local interests

are asking that the work not be conducted

during the high-traffic months of

July and August.

Source... El Mercurio, reprinted in English

at Jeannie's column in CuencaHighlife

@cccmedia I hope Cuenca isn't underwater like a lot of Ecuadorian cities. . . .

@cccmedia Does anyone else have a bad experience flying with Avianca?  My husband said he'll never fly with them again.  He flew from Washington Dulles to Quito with Avianca and said that the flight attendants were surly even though he is Hispanic and speaks Ecuadorian Spanish, his primary language.  He also said the seat he had was very uncomfortable.  Service was pitiful to non-existent.  He said he had a several hours wait between flights in Bogota at around 3 a.m. !!!!

@Coxhere1...

These are great questions, especially since

Avianca has many Ecuador to Colombia routes.

(1)  I have had no significant problems flying

with Avianca and am a member of their miles club.

(2)  I do not recall any problems with the

flight attendants and their 'actitudas'.

(3) Seats in coach class on most airlines are

pretty bad these days, so I don't expect much.

Avianca doesn't seem any worse than the

others.  Service was acceptable.

(4) IMO, a savvy passenger wants a scheduled

three-hour window if changing planes in

Bogotá.  Anything under two hours and you

can barely make your connection.  With

three hours, you can make your connection

and even schedule in a meal.  That airport

is enormous.

---

Avianca never has enforced the onward-flight

regulation that supposedly requires the

passenger to have a ticket for an ensuing

trip in order to board.  LATAM enforced the rule

when I flew Quito to Lima, Peru, a few months ago.

So I will avoid flying on LATAM internationally

from Quito going forward, when possible.

cccmedia

@cccmedia Thanks for a prompt reply to my query.  I had flown with United Airlines exclusively and over a relatively long time (Quito to Cincinnati) until I started getting waits between flights in Houston for up to NINE (9) hours!  Not anymore.  Delta Airlines has better connecting flights via Atlanta than United does via Houston.  And by the way, I'm old enough and have a permanent residency visa such that I can get the half price tickets (that doesn't include the taxes and other fees).  So I can fly business/first at half price that's just about the same as a full price ticket in economy.  It's a nice perk!

I'm pretty late to this discussion.

We flew Avianca from Santiago. Chile to Quito, via Bogota.  We booked economy, since it was $1000 for two on just that one way journey.  How bad could it be?

Well it was horrible.  Absolutely my worst flight in 55 years.  Santiago to Bogota was nearly seven hours.  We couldn't get seats together.  Avianca crams another two rows into the fuselage.  None of those seats recline.  I was a middle seat, and the distance between my setback and the one in front was about 18 inches.  My femurs appear to be about 21". It was excruciating.

No drinks, no water, no snacks.  One lavatory for 170 people.  I started to freak out from claustrophobia.  I started to feel for what submariners must go through.

We are flying Quito to Mendoza next.  I am paying for Premium Economy and never using Avianca again.

@Anonymous User . . . .sounds about right!

There has to be water on international flights.

Travelers may have to request it.

cccmedia

@cccmedia But will water be brought to passengers after they've requested it?

In a word, yes.

I would be mighty surprised if any of our members

asked for drinking water during a flight .. and

the flight attendants couldn't deliver.

cccmedia

H2O.

Common sense tells us that an airline would be

in legal trouble if a passenger encountered

serious health issue(s) after flight attendants

failed to comply with his or her request for water

during an in-flight episode.

I personally became dehydrated and cramped up

on two flights in recent times and needed water

or some liquid to stabilize.

After at least one of these flights, I requested and got

gratis wheelchair service in order to transfer to a

connecting flight without over-stressing my body.

cccmedia

@cccmedia, according to my husband, when he flew from Washington Dulles to Quito, with a stop in Bogota, he said service was abysmal and flight attendants were surly and downright awful.  So, I don't think the attendants couldn't provide a drink of water but, rather, wouldn't. . . .

Travel options to internationally-famous

resort city in Mexico.

The Mexican airline company Viva Aerobus

is starting up air service between Quito and Cancún,

which has a major international airport in the state

of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

There will be three Quito flights a week to Cancún.

The service begins June 16.

One-way tickets start at just 58 USD, plus fees for

baggage if applicable.

cccmedia in Mexico City

Source...Cuenca's El Mercurio newspaper,

translated and reprinted at www.cuencahighlife.com

Quito to New York service about to resume.

Starting June 1 (2023), Avianca Airlines will resume

direct flights from Quito to the Big Apple, starting

with five flights a week.

A round-trip ticket for UIO-NYC (June 1, returning

June 15) was priced at $ 556 USD.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Tourist tax eliminated.

Ecuador's government has eliminated the tourist tax

a.k.a. Eco Delta tax from international flights.

The tax had added five to ten percent to the cost

of individual tickets.

Tour agencies said the tax had made Ecuador a

less competitive market versus South American

destinations for which the tax was not added.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Cuenca International Airport -- the plan.

An article appearing in Jeanne's Periódico column at

Cuenca HighLife details the planning for Cuenca's airport

to acquire the designation of international airport. 

Once that designation is obtained, plans are

for the initial cross border and international flights

to connect Cuenca and two cities in northern Peru, Chiclayo

and Piura, connecting on to Lima.

Other international flights from Cuenca, as currently

envisioned, will go to the capital of Colombia

and to Panama.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com ... Jeanne's column

is primarily a translation into English of items that have

recently appeared in El Mercurio newspaper of Cuenca.

Anyone ever fly Quito to Bogota on Wingo?  I will probably do a "Pasto option" of my own making to Armenia, but I thought i would ask. (Delete the comment if the Spanish is upsetting which is incidental to the $ figures)

For the "premium" flight which shows a cost of $199,  the break down is $98.50 for the flight and then taxes and fees as follows:

• Cargo de seguridad Quito $3.00USD
• Impuesto aeropuerto Quito. $63.86USD
• Impuesto de transporte Ecuador $3.66USD
• Impuesto de turismo Colombia $15.00USD
• Impuesto facilidades aeroportuarias Ecuado $5.00USD
• Impuesto turismo Ecuador $1.52USD
• Impuesto venta servicio opcional Ecuador $8.16USD
• Impuesto venta tarifa administrativa Ecuador $0.12USD
• TARIFA ADMINISTRATIVA WEB $1.00USD

Panama and Peru routes begin.

Air service on a Cuenca-Quito-Panama route

has begun flying two days a week,

Monday and Friday, via Autoregional.

Four flights, morning and evening in

both directions, are serving this route.

The same airline will offer

Cuenca-Quito-Lima, Peru routes

starting August 10.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com