Airlines Blast Possible Tax Hike in Costa Rican Airport

Taxes levied on air companies for the use of the Juan Santamaria Airport in Costa Rica’s San Jose are 35 percent higher than in any other Central American nation, a situation that tolerates no further duty increments as the one demanded by Alterra Partners, the private consortium that runs the terminal.

Officials from the Airlines Association, convinced that a tax raise will definitively put the country’s number-one airport behind the competitive eight ball, have requested to renegotiate the contract with Alterra Partners and the Costa Rican Government with a view to work out the differences and come up with a much better plan.

Alterra Partners called off the streamlining of the air terminal as the government threatened to override the contract with the company –running the airport since 2001- amid a squabble that’s been pitting both sides against each other for several weeks.

The rift burst out after the government was denied authorization to earmark $18.4 million worth of development spending for the company since the supervision body does not accept more that $3.4 million to be used for that particular reason. As a result of this, the government sketched out a scheme to take up the cash slack by raising taxes to be applied on the use of the airport.

Amid this situation, airlines are now demanding an all-out renegotiation of the contract in an effort to keep the modernization process of the airport going, and in order to provide Costa Rica with a competitive edge as a hub of international air carriers.