One month after re-instating flights from San José to Granada, Nicaragua, domestic airline Nature Air has cancelled the popular Monday, Thursday and Sunday service, effective immediately.
According to a statement from the company, which offers more than 74 flights daily to 16 destinations in Costa Rica and Panama, reliable air service was compromised when private and public companies in Nicaragua failed to honor agreements with the airline.
María Nelly Rivas, the outgoing executive president of the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR) who helped broker the deal to re-instate Nature Air service to Granada last December, said this week that it’s “a shame” that the airline has decided to suspend its flights again.
She said the government had signed a contract with the airline to promote the flight and that the tourism institute had always intended to uphold its end of the contract. She said that she thought the problem is probably due to “a lack of coordination” between the new administration and the airline.
Rivas stressed that the cancellation of the route does not represent a change in policy or priorities for the new government, which is still focused heavily on bringing U.S. and European tourists to Nicaragua.
According to Nature Air marketing director Lissette Acosta, the company is actively seeking out new destinations in Nicaragua, which saw unprecedented tourism growth and record numbers of visitors in the past year (NT, Jan. 12). Until
then, however, Nature Air will offer no flights to Nicaragua.
“We just need to find a destination there that allows for easier operations,” she said.
Ticket holders who bought tickets to Nicaragua can contact the company through www.natureair.com for a 100% refund.
