Maya Island Air inaugurates final leg of regional flights August 03, 2009
The inaugural ceremony for the Honduras leg of the new Maya Island Air service was held on Saturday morning in San Pedro Sula. Daily flights are now covering the Mundo Maya region, thanks to this initiative by Maya Island Air Regional. Political unrest in Honduras delayed plans to launch the flights last month when the service to Cancun, Mexico and Guatemala City were inaugurated. Things have calmed down now in Honduras and with the green light from their partners, Saturday's inaugural ceremony used the San Pedro Sula airport as a fitting backdrop. Louie Zabaneh is the CEO of Maya Island Air Regional.
Louie Zabaneh: CEO, Maya Island Air Regional
"We have been serving Honduras for the past two years out of Savannah in the South and now we are serving Cancun and Guatemala. All of that took us about a year to organize. It is just a process and you have to apply for permits, that takes a long time through the governmental system, and that was the reason for us to take about a year. We have taken out a row from the ATR 72 for comfort and safety, and now it seats 68 passengers. Right now in August and September we are doing a $249 round trip from San Pedro Sula to Belize, or Belize to Cancun, or Belize to Guatemala. Flights between Guatemala and Cancun or San Pedro Sula and Cancun or Guatemala and San Pedro Sula will be $460 round trip. These prices do not include taxes. We wanted to give time for our partners on the ground to give us a green light that it was okay to start. We have people who work with us at the airports, who give services to the aircraft. We have people in the tourism sector: hotel owners, people who are wholesalers and agents. A lot of people have been waiting for a long time and we have been blessed to have a lot of support. On the flight we have a lot of people from the tourism sector who have come to visit Belize and they were also blending in with the National Basketball team and the Queens from Costa Maya. It was a time to for everybody to celebrate. It was an exciting time."
The daily round trip flight from Belize to Honduras, like the others, will be serviced by Swift Air personnel. But according to Maya Island Air Regional, this flight crew will eventually be replaced by Belizeans who are being trained to man the ATR 72s and at the same time improving the overall service being provided by the company.
Zabaneh says that Mayan Paradise Travel and Tour, a unit of Maya Island Air Regional, will be offering special packages for those wishing to attend the Central American Basketball Competition in Cancun next week.
For flight schedules and pricing you can visit their website at
www.mayaislandair.com