CUENCA DIGESTCuenca air travel down since the opening of new Quito airport; more Coopera account holders to be repaid

Jul 23, 2013 | 0 comments

Cuenca’s Mariscal La Mar Airport reports a 7% drop in air passengers since Quito’s new airport in Tababela opened in March.

chl airportChief of aviation operations in Cuenca, Juan Ignacio Ordóñez, says that about 17,000 passengers a month have used the airport since March, compared to 19,000 a month in 2012. He says there has been an overall drop of 10% in air travel between Cuenca and Quito.

The Cuenca airport handles 79 flights a week, according to Ordóñez, 60 to Quito and 19 to Guayaquil. Airlines serving the airport are Lan Ecuador, Tame, Aerogal and LAC.

Ordóñez says he expects traffic to increase through the end of the year due to the Cuenca holidays in November and the Christmas season.

SEPS announces second round of Coopera payouts

The federal office of Economía Popular y Solidaria (SEPS) announced that it will begin a second round of payouts to Coopera account holders the second week of August.

Diego Aguilar, manager of liquidation operations for the failed Cuenca financial cooperative, said details of the new payouts will be determined by a financial report due from
auditors the first week of August.

Based on the government plan to repay account holders, the second round of payouts will be for account holders with more than $10,000 in funds and will cover .7% of all Coopera account. SEPS is paying smaller account holders first.

In June, SEPS said that 99% of all account holders would get their money back. Currently, account holders with less than $10,000 are collecting their money at several area coops assigned to handle Coopera accounts. SEPS says these represent 98.3% of all accounts. To date, SEPS reports that 51% of that group has been repayed. Many account holders have decided to keep their accounts with new cooperatives. SEPS says.

An attorney for a group of large Coopera investors estimates that the 1% of accounts that the government has not committed to repaying represents more than 50% of all Coopera investments. Many account holders have complained about the distribution plan, which favors small account holders, as well as a lack of information about the status of the liquidation process.

Authorities say that Coopera had about 300 foreign, mostly North American, investors and that about half of those have been repayed.

Details about repayment of accounts can be found at  the SEPS websiste, www.seps.gob.ec

Activity at Tungurahua decreases

Although columns of steam, smoke and ash continue to rise about the Tungurahua volcano near Ambato overall activity has decreased, according to Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute.

The Institute reports that lava flows have declined and there have been no more expulsions of rocks from the volcano since Saturday.

Tungurahua reactivated July 14 with an eruption and loud explosion that was heard as far as 90 miles away. The eruption covered hundreds of square miles with ash and falling rocks broke car windshields within a 30 mile radius.

Institute spokesman Patricio Ramon warned that the decrease in activity does not mean the current eruption cycle is over. “There is less ashfall and fewer and smaller explosions but those living near the volcano should remain on alert,” he said.

Photo caption: Cuenca’s Mariscal La Mar Airport

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