Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport
Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Ramón Villeda Morales) (IATA: SAP, ICAO: MHLM), also known as La Mesa International Airport, is located 11 kilometres (7 mi) southeast of the city of San Pedro Sula, in the Cortés Department of Honduras.
Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport La Mesa International Airport Aeropuerto de San Pedro Sula | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military/Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | San Pedro Sula | ||||||||||
| Location | La Lima | ||||||||||
| Opened | February 1965 (airport and old terminal) 1997 (current terminal) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 92 ft / 28 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 15°27′10″N 87°55′25″W | ||||||||||
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  SAP Location in Honduras | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (First semester of 2023) | |||||||||||
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The airport is named after Ramón Villeda Morales (1909–1971), who served as President of Honduras from 1957 to 1963. It is the major and busiest airport in Honduras, handling 1,142,635 passengers in 2022. The airport also reported handling over 20,000 international and domestic flights annually. The airport provides short connections to tourist attractions such as La Ceiba, and the Caribbean beaches of Roatán and Tela.
History
The Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport was inaugurated in February 1965. This was because of the rapid growth of the population, and the difficulty for pilots to land at the old airport located in the Barandillas neighborhood in San Pedro Sula. In addition, a modernization of the air service was being carried out, and a new airport was necessary since the old airport only had a dirt runway and a small house that served as a terminal.[4]
In 1997, the current passenger terminal was inaugurated, built in a new location to the old one inaugurated in 1965. The airport was damaged in 1997 by Hurricane Mitch.
In 2013, a remodeling of the passenger terminal began to improve the facilities and infrastructure of the airport. Air Europa started a route to Madrid using Airbus A330s in April 2017. This was Honduras's first direct link to Europe.[5][6] The airport was damaged in 2020 by Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota, which submerged the airport, causing humanitarian flights to the country to be delayed. In August 2023, SAN (Servicio Aeroportuario Nacional) started a large remodeling of the airport. The project will cost 15 million dollars (370 million lempiras) and will include new additions such as a canopy, and amplifying many parts of the airport.
Facilities
The airport is at an elevation of 92 ft (28 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway with a concrete surface measuring 2,886 m × 46 m (9,469 ft × 151 ft).[1]
The airport relies with 2 terminals integrated in the same building: A and B. The terminal has 4 gates and 3 Jet bridges. There’s a single immigration office, security cameras and a parking lot with a cost of $1.00 dollar per hour.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Amerijet International | Miami |
| DHL Aero Expreso | Miami |
| IFL Group as FedEx Feeder | Miami |
Several other airlines like Cargojet Airways and AeroUnion also operate flights out of San Pedro Sula to some Central American cities and the United States.
References
- MHLM – LA MESA Internacional
- Memoria de Sostenibilidad 2014-2015
- Airport information for Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
- "INFORME DE LOS AEROPUERTOS INTERNACIONALES DEL MES DE JULIO DE 2019 DIRECCION TECNICA - PDF Free Download". docplayer.es. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- "Avión de Air Europa toca suelo hondureño en vuelo inaugural Madrid-SPS". Proceso Digital (in Spanish). 27 April 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- "Primer vuelo de Air Europa llega el jueves a San Pedro Sula". La Prensa (in Spanish). 25 April 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- "AVIANCA COSTA RICA RESUMES 2 US ROUTES FROM DEC 2023". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
External links
Media related to Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
