Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport

Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport
Aeropuerto Internacional Ramón Villeda Morales
Summary
Airport typePublic / Military
ServesSan Pedro Sula
LocationLa Lima, Cortés Department, Honduras
OpenedFebruary 1965 (1965-02)
Elevation AMSL92 ft (28 m)
Coordinates15°27′10″N 87°55′25″W / 15.45278°N 87.92361°W / 15.45278; -87.92361
Map
SAP/MHLM is located in Honduras
SAP/MHLM
SAP/MHLM
Location in Honduras
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 2,886 9,469 Concrete
Statistics (2024)
Total Passengers1,345,926
Source: Honduran AIP,[1] SAN,[2] GCM[3]

Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport (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.

The airport is named after Ramón Villeda Morales (1909–1971), who served as president of Honduras from 1957 to 1963. It is the busiest airport in Honduras, handling 1,270,997 passengers in 2023. 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 had only 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 1998 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 (370 million lempiras) and will include new additions, such as an additional gate, and many parts of the airport will be expanded.

Facilities

Military aircraft.
Airside of the airport.

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]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Aerolineas Sosa La Ceiba,[7] Roatán[8]
Aeroméxico Connect Mexico City-Benito Juarez[9]
Air Europa Madrid[10]
American Airlines Miami[11]
Avianca El Salvador San Salvador[12]
CM Airlines Guatemala City,[13] Roatán, Tegucigalpa[13]
Copa AirlinesPanama City-Tocumen[14]
Delta Air LinesAtlanta[15]
Frontier AirlinesOrlando[16]
JetBlueFort Lauderdale[17]
TAG AirlinesGuatemala City[18]
Tropic AirBelize City[19]
United AirlinesHouston-Intercontinental,[20] Newark[20]

Statistics

PassengersYear500,000600,000700,000800,000900,0001,000,0001,100,0001,200,0001,300,00020042007201020132016201920222025PassengersAnnual passenger traffic

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "MHLM – LA MESA Internacional". Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Tráfico de pasajeros en aeropuertos de Honduras aumentó 10.5% en 2023". El Tiempo. 16 January 2024. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "Airport information for Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport" – via Great Circle Mapper.
  4. ↑ "Informe De Los Aeropuertos Internacionales Del Mes De Julio De 2019 Direccion Tecnica". docplayer.es. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Avión de Air Europa toca suelo hondureño en vuelo inaugural Madrid-SPS". Proceso Digital (in Spanish). 27 April 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "Primer vuelo de Air Europa llega el jueves a San Pedro Sula". La Prensa (in Spanish). 25 April 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Washington, John (29 April 2025). "Visiting Honduras: Traveling From Tela's Beaches to Copan's Mayan Ruins". The Tico Times Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  8. ↑ Kaminski, Anna (6 January 2024). "How to get around in Honduras, from the cloud forests to the beaches". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  9. ↑ Saldaña, Jorge (7 September 2021). "Aeromexico announces flights to Tegucigalpa". MEXICONOW. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  10. ↑ Gimenez Mazó, Edgardo (2 August 2024). "Air Europa Commits to 2024-2026 Strategic Plan Amid IAG Withdrawal". Aviacionline (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  11. ↑ Moore, Cortney Danielle (5 November 2024). "Latin American airline expands nonstop flights from Miami". South Florida Business Journal. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Casey, David (7 October 2021). "Volaris El Salvador Targets US Launch | Aviation Week Network". Aviation Week. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  13. 1 2 Ardon, Kendra (19 July 2023). "CM Airlines suma una nueva aeronave a su flota de aviones y celebra su 15 aniversario a lo grande". Roatan Today Magazine (in Spanish). Roatan Today Magazine. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Airlines Flying to Central America | centralamerica.com". Central America. 8 October 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  15. ↑ Britell, Alexander (12 June 2025). "Frontier Airlines Just Launched a New Flight to Honduras' Caribbean Gateway". Caribbean Journal. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  16. ↑ "Flights from San Pedro Sula (SAP)". www.flightconnections.com. 2 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "JetBlue adds nine new routes from Fort Lauderdale starting November". Street Insider. 10 September 2025.
  18. ↑ Casey, David (6 October 2022). "Avianca To Revive Aviateca Brand, Offer Three Routes From Guatemala". Aviation Week. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  19. ↑ Cowo, Janelle (15 November 2022). "Tropic Air now flies to San Pedro Sula, Honduras". The San Pedro Sun. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  20. 1 2 Flores, Victoria (15 September 2025). "It's official—United Airlines announces an unexpected winter expansion with new routes from Newark and Houston to the US and Central America, as well as resuming key flights to Israel amid uncertainty in the aviation industry". Retrieved 12 January 2026.

Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.