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Servicio Aéreo de Honduras S.A. (IATA: SH, ICAO: SHA) otherwise known as SAHSA Airlines was the national flag carrier airline of Honduras from October 22, 1945, to January 14, 1994. The airline was a subsidiary of Pan American Airways and merged with Transportes Aéreos Nacionales (TAN) to form TAN-SAHSA in November 1991.
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| Founded | 1945 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 1994 | ||||||
| Hubs | Toncontín International Airport | ||||||
| Secondary hubs | Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Managua, New Orleans | ||||||
| Alliance | Tan-Sahsa | ||||||
| Fleet size | 41 | ||||||
| Destinations | 40 destinations: Central America, North America, South America & the Caribbean | ||||||
| Parent company | Pan American Airways | ||||||
| Headquarters | Tegucigalpa, Honduras | ||||||
| Key people | Oswaldo López Arellano | ||||||
SAHSA was founded on January 2, 1945, with help from Pan American Airways under the name Servicio Aéreo de Honduras S.A. (SAHSA). Pan American Airways owned 40%, the Honduran government owned 40% and 20% was owned by private investors.
The airline began operations on October 22, 1945, using a Douglas DC-2 (XH-SAA) to fly to destinations within Honduras. By October 1945, SAHSA had also acquired a Douglas DC-3 and a Beechcraft Model 18. In 1953, SAHSA acquired rival airline TACA de Honduras, by which time SAHSA was operating the Douglas DC-2, Douglas DC-3, and Curtis C-46 Commando.
Equipment with modern pressurised airliners began in the mid-1960s with the Convair 340, Convair 440 and Douglas DC-6B being added to the fleet. The turboprop Lockheed L-188 Electra joined the company in 1969.[1]
In 1970, Pan Am gave up its stake in SAHSA and TAN took over, but SAHSA continued to operate independently. TAN acquired the first jet airliner in Honduras, a Boeing 737-200, in 1974, and started international operations between Miami and Honduras. SAHSA acquired a Boeing 737-200 in October 1974 and later acquired Boeing 727-200s. SAHSA began operations between Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and New Orleans.
The owner of TAN-SAHSA, Oswaldo López Arellano, was a two-term president of Honduras. To keep business in Honduras, no U.S. airlines were given permission fly to or from Honduras. Once Arellano was thrown out of power, several U.S. based airlines, such as Eastern Airlines, Pan Am and Air Florida, were allowed to operate to and from Honduras.
SAHSA and TAN merged into TAN-SAHSA on 1 November 1991. It was based at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa and flew from Honduras to various destinations throughout Central and North and South America. The TAN-SAHSA name was used between 1990 and 1991 when the name TAN disappeared. The airline continued to operate as SAHSA until its demise in 1994. The collapse was partly due to corruption and partly to the airline's poor safety record. The airline experienced several accidents during its operational life, including a major crash of a 727 in 1989 in Honduras, killing 131 of 146 passengers aboard, and a subsequent emergency landing incident on a Houston-bound 737 plane in 1993, after which the airline lost its FAA Air Operations Certificate and with it its operating privileges to the United States. No longer able to fly to the United States, financial pressures caused the airline to cease flight operations in late 1993 and it was disbanded in January 1994. Following the collapse of SAHSA, Honduras had no national airline until 2002, when Sol Air commenced operations.
SAHSA was initially established as a national airline to operate domestic flights with aircraft such as the Douglas DC-2 and Douglas DC-3. Initial routes were limited to Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Puerto Cortés, La Ceiba, Marcala, Intibucá, Santa Rosa de Copán, Ocotepeque and Santa Bárbara.
The first U.S. route operated by SAHSA was to New Orleans in 1974 with Lockheed L-188 Electra propjet service being flown on a daily route of New Orleans-Belize-San Pedro Sula-Tegucigalpa with continuing service three days a week being operated to San Jose, Costa Rica by this Electra flight.[2]
Following the acquisition of Boeing jet aircraft in the mid 1970s, the airline expanded its international routes. In addition to New Orleans, Belize, Guatemala City and San Jose, CR, new destinations included Houston, Miami, Grand Cayman, Managua, Guatemala City, San Salvador, Panamá, Colombia and Perú.
Domestic
Comayagua - Comayagua International Airport
Erandique - Erandique Airport
Gracias - Gracias Airport
La Ceiba - Golosón International Airport
La Esperanza - La Esperanza Airport (Intibucá)
Marcala - Marcala Airport
Ocotepeque - Ocotepeque Airport
Puerto Cortes - Puerto Cortes Airport
Roatan - Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport
Santa Bárbara - Santa Bárbara Airport
San Pedro Sula - Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport - Secondary Hub
Santa Rosa de Copán - Santa Rosa de Copán Airport
Tegucigalpa - Toncontín International Airport - Hub
Belize
Belize City - Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport
Colombia
Bogota -El Dorado International Airport
San Andrés - Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport
Costa Rica
San José - Juan Santamaría International Airport
Guatemala
Guatemala City - La Aurora International Airport
Nicaragua
Managua - Augusto C. Sandino International Airport
Panama
Panama City - Tocumen International Airport
United States
Houston - George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Miami - Miami International Airport
New Orleans - Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
SAHSA's fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | Total | Routes |
|---|---|---|
| Boeing 727-100 | 4 | short and medium haul |
| Boeing 727-200 | 2 | short and medium haul |
| Boeing 737-200 | 6 | short and medium haul |
| Boeing 737-400 | 2 | medium haul |
| CV-340 | 2 | short haul |
| CV-440 | 2 | short haul |
| CV-580 | 2 | short haul |
| Douglas DC-3 | 10 | short haul |
| Lockheed L-188 Electra | 4 | short and medium haul |
The airline also operated:
Sahsa Airlines was involved in several incidents and accidents, the most notable being:
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