New Honduras airport authority starts operations

Honduras' airport services authority SAN will launch construction tenders and oversee private companies the government contracted for airport management.

The decree creating SAN was issued at the end of April and published in the official gazette on May 3. SAN replaces EHISA, which was created in 2020.

According to the decree, SAN will be decentralized and have “functional, technical and administrative independence. [It will be] a public interest entity with importance for defense, national security.”

SAN will manage Golosón airport in La Ceiba, the Juan Manuel Gálvez facility in Roatán, Ramón Villeda Morales airport in San Pedro Sula and Toncontín (pictured) in Tegucigalpa.

It will also oversee seven aerodromes – some reportedly in a bad state – and other facilities, excluding Palmerola international airport. 

EHISA was created by the previous administration after an international tender failed to attract a new concessionaire. 

Quoting a government statement, news outlet Estrategia y Negocios reported that EHISA was dysfunctional to a degree that “put at risk management, operation, investment and maintenance of national and international airports and aerodromes.”

Ricardo Alfredo Martínez Castañeda assumed as head of SAN.