Isleña de Inversiones S.A. de C.V. branded Avianca Honduras is a

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

based in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 701, ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. It offered mostly scheduled and chartered passenger flights out of its hub at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport. It was formerly one of the airlines part of Grupo TACA. It is one of the seven nationally branded airlines (

Avianca Costa Rica Avianca Costa Rica S.A., using callsign as LACSA (''Spanish: Lineas Aéreas Costarricenses S.A.''), minority owned by the Synergy Group, is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José. It operates international scheduled servic ...

, Avianca Ecuador, etc.) in the

Avianca Group Avianca Group International Limited (formerly Avianca Holdings S.A. and AviancaTaca Holding Inc.) is a pan-regional Latin American multinational airline holding company with its registered office in St Albans, England, and its global headquarter ...

of Latin American airlines.

History

The airline was founded as Isleña Airlines in 1981 by Arturo Alvarado Wood in the city of

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida (department), Atlántida, and a port city on the northern Caribbean coast in Honduras. It forms part of the southeastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras. With ...

. It began operations on May 31, 1981, with a

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206 and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane), are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

between La Ceiba and

Roatán Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. The largest of the Bay Islands Department, Bay Islands of Honduras, it is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja. It is approximately long, and le ...

. Their central office was formerly located in

and its hub was at

Golosón International Airport Golosón International Airport () is an airport located on the western side of the city of La Ceiba, in the Atlántida Department on the north coast of Honduras. It is also known as La Ceiba Airport (''Aeropuerto de La Ceiba'') and Hector C. ...

. In 1998,

Grupo TACA Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano, S.A. (Spanish for "Air Transport of the American Continent"), known and formerly branded as TACA International Airlines), and operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Hold ...

acquired a 20% stake in the company, and began operating under the ''TACA Regional'' banner.Information about Isleña Airlines at the Aero Transport Data Bank
/ref> On May 28, 2013, Isleña was unified with the rest of TACA's subsidiaries into the

Avianca Holdings Avianca Group International Limited (formerly Avianca Holdings S.A. and AviancaTaca Holding Inc.) is a pan-regional Latin American multinational airline holding company with its registered office in St Albans, England, and its global headquarter ...

, being renamed ''Avianca Honduras''. By October 2018, Avianca Honduras had suspended its routes until further notice. In March 2020, the airline retired is remaining aircraft and transferred its operations to

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

Destinations

Prior to March 2020, Avianca Honduras operated to the following destinations: Further destinations were served by chartered flights.

Fleet

Throughout its existence as Isleña Airlines, the airline operated the following aircraft: *7

ATR 42-300 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now part of Airbu ...

*6 ATR 42-320 *2

ATR 72-600 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pass ...

*1 Beechcraft 90 *1

Beechcraft 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by American manufacturer Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, deriv ...

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

*3 de Havilland Canada DHC-6-200 Twin Otter *5

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Holste; it had been designed in ...

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

Fairchild Hiller FH-227 Fairchild may refer to: Organizations * Fairchild Aerial Surveys, operated in cooperation with a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation Company * Fairchild Camera and Instrument * List of Sherman Fairchild companies, "Fairchild" companies * Fairchild F ...

Grumman Gulfstream I The Grumman Gulfstream I (company designation G-159) is a twin-turboprop business aircraft. It first flew on August 14, 1958. Design and development After first rejecting an idea to develop the Grumman Widgeon as an executive transport, the co ...

Short 360 The Short 360 (also SD3-60; also Shorts 360)Mondey, David. ''Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft''. New York: Crescent Books, 1981. , p. 228. is a commuter aircraft that was built by UK manufacturer Short Brothers durin ...

Let L-410 Turbolet The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft designed and produced by the Czech Republic, Czech aircraft manufacturer Aircraft Industries, Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005). It was developed as the ''L ...

Accidents and incidents

*On April 4, 1990, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-200 Twin Otter (registered HR-ALH) landed in the water short off the runway at

Útila Airport Útila Airport is an airport serving Útila, Islas de la Bahía, Honduras. It handles regional and international air traffic for the town of Útila. The airport is served by two airlines on a daily schedule, as well as numerous private and ch ...

, following a scheduled passenger flight from La Ceiba with 18 passengers on board. The two pilots claimed to have been blinded by the sun, thus misjudging the remaining distance to the runway. All occupants of the aircraft could be saved. *On March 3, 1997, a

(registered HR-IAS) did not gain sufficient height upon take-off from

for a scheduled flight to Puerto Lempira with 19 passengers on board. Following the retraction of the landing gear, the two pilots had applied the wrong engine power setup and were forced to bring the aircraft down again in a

belly landing A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilo ...

, during which it was damaged beyond repair.

References

External links