Maya Island Air Regional flies to Honduras
Inaugural direct flights to Honduras got underway this past Saturday after a brief delay due to the political situation in that Central American country. Using ATR 72’s Maya Island Air Regional can take the business traveler or tourist to the neighbouring cities of Guatemala, Cancun and now San Pedro Sula. While the flights have started on a daily schedule, there are plans to increase this number as the economy and tourism pick up. Delahnie Bain has a report on the inaugural flight.
Delahnie Bain, Reporting
The launching of direct flights to San Pedro Sula, Honduras over the weekend marked the completion of inaugural activities for Maya Island Air Regional. Maya’s new services are expected to boost tourism numbers since the flights are convenient for visitors from Cancun, Guatemala and now San Pedro Sula, to do one day trips in Belize. C.E.O. Louis Zabaneh says their starting with a daily flight.
Louis Zabaneh, C.E.O., Maya Island Air Regional
“The flight departs from San Pedro Sula at nine in the morning and arrives in Belize at nine-forty-five, nine-fifty. Then there are connections to Cancun that leave Belize at ten-forty in the morning, both to Guatemala and to Cancun. It returns from Guatemala at one o’clock and from Cancun at two o’clock their time, which is one o’clock Belize time and Honduras time, connects through Belize and then there’s a three o’clock departure back to San Pedro Sula.”
The regional flight schedule is expected to get a whole lot busier. That’s because Maya Island Air has permits to do much more and as the demand increases, particularly in the tourism industry, so will the flights.
Louis Zabaneh
“Right now we have permits actually to do four flights a day to Cancun from Belize and back, two flights a day to Guatemala and two flights a day to Honduras. Of course, we’re graduating into these times based on what the market is requesting. We had an arrangement with the folks in Cancun that they were going to do day tours to Belize in the morning and going back in the evening. So that’s why we had the nine o’clock and the six-fifty departure.”
That arrangement has been delayed for a few months because of the H1N1 scare. Another concern when making an investment is the current global economic downturn. But Zabaneh says they’ve played it safe.
Louis Zabaneh
“We have worked with our partners so we have a very strong network with the tourism sector in all these countries, including Belize. We do not have—we’re not starting out with an airline that has been subsidized by government; that’s very important. When that occurs, there is always a lot of inefficiencies occurring and once there is a difficulty they go out of the market, that’s been seen all over. This is solid private sector investment, working very closely with our partners and working very efficiently, cost cutting and starting really small.”
Tony Novelo, Co-Owner, National Transport Ltd.
“I feel it’s a very good vision for the country and for Belizeans, for the hoteliers, the restaurant people, tour operators and even ourselves in ground transportation because I think that its fast, it’s very short—a fifty-five minute flight—and it will encourage the people to come over and visit our lovely country.”
Luke Espat, Chairman, Port of Belize
“I think the government and the people of Belize should give it its maximum support in whichever way possible because it takes few entrepreneurs that will always have the tenacity to continue to develop, continue to improve. And these are risks; in these times these are risks but it should be highly commended, I think it’s first class it’s a first rate job.”
Delahnie Bain for News Five.
The flights to Guatemala and Cancun were launched on July eighth.
