Air Madrid Starts Flying to Panama

Spain´s airline Air Madrid has just commenced a series of nonstop flights between Panama City and the Spanish capital that, as local officials put it, will have a positive impact on European trippers who will also benefit from Iberia´s much-anticipated flights in October.

Air Madrid, that operates a couple of weekly direct flights on Mondays and Fridays between Panama and Spain using Airbus A330-200 jetliners, announced that the new airfares for the tourist market will be 40 percent off the regular price.

Air Madrid´s front office unveiled the seven-city expansion plan for Latin America before representatives from several travel agencies and tourism promoters.

The seven Latin American burgs included in the Air Madrid plan are Panama City, San Jose (Costa Rica), Cartagena and Bogota (Colombia), Quito, Lima and Rio de Janeiro.

Iberia Airlines will soon be a part of the competition for the Latin American market with the resumption of its flights to Panama.

According to stats released by the Panama Tourism Institute, some 41,215 Europeans entered the country last year, a meager 4.6 percent from the 885,148 travelers -as many as 9,196 from Spain- that flew to the Central American nation in 2002.