The government of Panama and the operator of the airport Tocumen SA suspended the award of a contract to manage the Colon Enrique Adolfo Jimenez Airportto the Consortium ONX.
This society includes the company Sky Cana SRL and subsidiary of the Dominican airline Sky Cana.
Panamanian authorities reported that investigatepossible irregularities in the award and a conflict of interest in the process.
In February, the Consortium ONX received the concession to operate the airport in Colón (which has been inactive since 2013), after a 10-month process. As part of the contractthe Consortium ONX would have to develop some land adjacent to the airportwhich are part of the Colón free trade zone (Zolicol).
- “Our proposal met all the requirements required by the commercial contest, as established by the resolution of the Board of Directors of AITSA,” said the Consortium ONXwhen the decision of the Panamanian authorities was announced.
As Consorcio explained in a press release, these requirements included experience in airport cargo handling, passenger handling, financial solvency and availability of capital to invest in the development and promotion of the Enrique A. Jiménez de Colón terminal.
In addition, this project represents a investment of tens of millions of dollars in Colón, the generation of up to 600 jobs direct and thousands of indirect, purchases from local suppliers, investments in training, reactivation of tourism and technology transfer.
The newspaper La Prensa, from Panamareported that the Consortium ONX is property of three entities separated: Corporation ONXSA, Sky Cana SRL, as well as Carga Transítmica, a company owned by three sons of a former manager of Zolicol.
In a statement, Panamanian authorities ordered “audit for possible irregularities by renting the lands of Colón and its process for commercial exploitation of the airport In this city”.
Sky Cana ceased his operations of flights in the Dominican Republic last March, when returned to its parent company the A-320 aircraft that they held in their possession.
Free Newspaper tried contact to executives of Sky Cana in the country, but they did not respond.
