Avianca Honduras

The airline was founded as Isleña Airlines in 1981 by Arturo Alvarado Wood in the city of La Ceiba. It began operations on May 31, 1981, with a Cessna 206 between La Ceiba and Roatán. Their central office was formerly located in La Ceiba and its hub was at Golosón International Airport.

In 1998, Grupo TACA acquired a 20% stake in the company, and began operating under the TACA Regional banner. On May 28, 2013, Isleña was unified with the rest of TACA's subsidiaries into the Avianca Holdings, 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.

On May 10, 2020, Avianca filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States after failing to pay bondholders, becoming one of the major airlines to file for bankruptcy due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

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

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, 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 Let L-410 Turbolet (registered HR-IAS) did not gain sufficient height upon take-off from Golosón International Airport 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, during which it was damaged beyond repair.