Tame to resume Cuenca-Guayaquil flights

Azuay Province Governor Augusta Muñoz announced Friday that Tame will resume flying its Cuenca-to-Guayaquil route within 60 days.

Tame employees remove fake ¨clausurado¨signs Thursday.

The decision came following protests by city and business officials who claimed the suspension of flights, that began last weekend, would cause irreparable harm to the tourism industry in the city. The industry says that 75% of foreign visitors who enter Ecuador at Guayaquil, fly to Cuenca.

Counting all travelers between the cities, more than 80% travel by bus or van, according to travel industry experts.

Muñoz said that the suspension of flights was a temporary measure to allow the airline to evaluate financial data and business practices and to perform maintenance on aircraft. She added that, based on the evaluation, the resumption of flights may not be permanent.

“Tame must develop strategies and incentives for travelers to make the flights sustainable,” Muñoz said.

Before the governor’s announcement, representatives of the tourism industry gathered Thursday at Mariscal La Mar Airport to protest the flight suspension. They pasted mock “Clausurado” signs on Tame office windows and proposed various methods of applying pressure to the airline.

Tame, which is government-owned, has lost millions of dollars in recent years and is looking for a corporate partner.