“With Palmerola Honduras is at the forefront in air connectivity,” said President Juan Orlando Hernández in a speech during the inauguration ceremony.
“We are going to maintain the civil terminal and our joint task force (military with the United States) because that is good for Honduras.”he added.
The airport facilities, which have a 2,800 m runway, seven sleeves and a 39,000 m2 terminal building, were built at a cost of about US $ 200 million. It will be operated by a Honduran company with a German consortium, in a 30-year concession.
The United States built the Palmerola base in 1985, during the Cold War, under its combat strategy against guerrilla movements in Central America. At least 500 US troops remain for joint tasks with their Honduran counterparts.
The Honduran Air Force base also operates there.
Toncontin, which moves about 800,000 passengers per year and will remain for domestic flights, is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world, by international aeronautical organizations.
To land at this airport located on a small plain surrounded by high mountains, pilots have to climb slopes sometimes covered in mist, then descend steeply over the roofs of houses, and near a boulevard, to a runway of just 1,900 meters .
With fearful passengers, pilots have to accurately calculate landing gear contact on the asphalt and brake immediately so as not to fall off a cliff and a busy road of vehicles.
When they take off they have to rise immediately so as not to crash into hills covered in low-income neighborhoods.
In February 2011, for example, 14 people also perished when their aircraft crashed into the mountain.
In addition, two aircraft went off the runway: on May 30, 2008, with a total of five deaths, and on May 22, 2018, when nine people were injured.
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