Expansion project for Panama’s Tocumen International Airport is unveiled

The Panamanian government has just announced a project to enhance the Tocumen International Airport as part of the strategy to give local tourism a new lease on life, the Panamanian President’s Office informed.

Government and Justice Minister Arnulfo Escalona presented the $59-million investment package in a ceremony attended by Panama’s President Mireya Moscoso.

The total enhancement area –according to project planners- comprises 14,785 square meters.

Once expansion works are through, the airport will be outfitted with 21 new telescoping embarking bridges that will automatically adjust themselves to the height of the aircraft.

There are similar plans in the making –including an international contest- to redesign and rebuild the air terminal.

President Moscoso said the enhancement of the Tocumen International Airport was one of the campaign promises to boost up the local leisure industry that she had made before taking over the presidency in 1999.

For her part, Fatima Perez, general manageress of the Tocumen International Airport, said that this 25-year-old terminal is expected to be back in business by June 2005 with better and wider operational facilities, higher quality and equally affordable services, as well as a broader volume of operations to accommodate more passengers and visitors.