CNH Tours has been trying to get the final word on the increases in flight costs from continental Ecuador to Galapagos over the past few weeks.   On December 16^th, the government of Ecuador suddenly announced that it would stop subsidizing fuel costs for air traffic as of January 1^st, 2012 - quite a short notice!  In the intervening days, there was plenty of confusion as to what that would mean for actual ticket costs, and if those who had already payed these in advance would be exempted.

As far as we know, prices will increase by the amounts listed below.   For TAME and Aerogal, the price increase was described in their respective websites.  LAN only posts the current prices, which are about $60-$70 higher than what they were in 2011.   We don't know why the prices are slightly different… one would expect that the removal of the subsidy would have the same effect on price increases - but we'll leave that one for the airlines to reveal.

Travelers having already paid for a 2012 cruise in full may or may not be required to pay the extra cost.  Most likely they will, as this is a significant increase and is a lot to swallow for travel agents.   We recommend simply that you be prepared to pay the difference when asked to do so.

Currently the new 2012 return air fare to Galapagos from Quito (adult) is:  $538 and from Guayaquil:  $428, as advertised on the LAN website.  Unless you are traveling independently to Galapagos, you will likely not have much choice in airlines, as the ship owners typically have standing reservations on specific planes for their clients.

 

Route	Fuel Surcharge (in US Dollars) for each way, by airline
	LAN	TAME	AEROGAL
Guayaquil-Galapagos	Apx. 60	70	50
Quito-Galapagos	Apx. 70	70	50