Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Emirates revives prospect of world’s longest flight to Panama
Emirates has revived prospects of non-stop flights to Panama, the airline said on Wednesday, encouraged by development potential in Latin America.
The Middle East airline shelved plans for flights to Panama City from its Dubai hub in early 2016 after it was unable to secure enough code-share agreements to make the route feasible.
“We are still looking at Panama. We had some conversations recently with a delegation from Panama,” Emirates Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori told reporters in Dubai.
Emirates had trumpeted the 8,590-mile (13,824km) route as the world’s longest, taking 17 hours and 35 minutes westbound.
Source: Reuters
Expanded Panama Canal Feels Benign Impact Of U.S. Oil And Gas Exports To Asia.
Even by the harshest of gauging parameters, the Panama Canal is nothing short of an engineering marvel and testament to human ingenuity.
Those privileged enough to have traveled on the waterway, as your correspondent recently did, would notice the locks – including the iconic Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks – serve as water lifts to raise or lower ships from the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans, depending on their North or Southbound routes, either side of the Isthmus of Panama, to the artificial Gatun Lake 27 meters above sea level; the Canal’s connecting water body for transit.
Source: Forbes
Panama bans Venezuelan airlines for 90 days in tit-for-tat move.
Panama will prohibit Venezuelan airlines from operating in the country for 90 days, the government has said, in retaliation for diplomatic and trade bans announced recently by Venezuela.
It comes after Venezuela banned key Panamanian companies from operating on its territory after Panama’s government put Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on a list of Venezuelan officials deemed at “high risk” for laundering money.
Venezuela’s ban included businesses related to Varela himself, as well as one of the few airlines still operating within Venezuela, Copa.
Panama pulled its ambassador from Venezuela and asked Venezuela to recall its emissary.
Source: Al Jazeera
How to Enjoy Panama’s Casco Viejo on a Budget
Panama’s Casco Viejo neighborhood is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. It’s also home to the seat of Panama’s government, and one of the hottest areas for both residential and commercial real estate.
Walk Everywhere:
Casco Viejo is very easy to reach from pretty much any part of the center of Panama City. You can get there by taxi or Uber for about $5 from downtown hotels, but you can also walk there via the Cinta Costera (Coastal Park), or take a bus to the nearby fish market, where you can easily walk to Casco in minutes. Once in Casco, walk everywhere. Taxis from place to place add up, and you can save about $10-$15 throughout the course of the day if you use your feet!
Source: International Relocation Firm Blog
