OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

A Toncontin wake-up call

Tragedy repeated itself this week when a U.S. Air Force C-13 cargo plane crashed at Tegucigalpa's Toncontin International Airport. The U.S. lost another plane in Trujillo back in 1988. Initial reports on this week's accident blame the crash on a poor approach onto the notoriously short Toncontin runway. The pilot simply landed too late; he didn't have enough runway left to make a complete stop before crashing onto the boulevard just beyond the airport's perimeter.

If the question of whether or not Toncontin is obsolete beyond repair was already a hot issue among Hondurans, it's grown even hotter with this week's accident. Almost everyone agrees the facility is not up to par with the demands of today's international traveller. But few can concur on what to do about it. Build a new airport? Remodel the old one? Extend the landing strip? Shift air traffic to the larger Palmerola airport in Comayagua? Ideas abound, but decisions are lacking. Meanwhile, landing in Tegucigalpa continues to be a hair-raising experience. Although officials have yet to confirm that this week's accident was indeed linked to the size of Toncontin's runway, and international commercial flights come and go daily posing no risk to public safety, the approach into Honduras' mountain capital continues to be a tricky one and even the well-seasoned pilots of airlines like Taca, American and Continental -- pilots who make safe landings day after day after day -- sometimes have to pull out of an attempted landing and try again.

The Airport Commission will reach a level of negligence that borders on the absurd if it continues to put off making a decision on an issue that began as a murmur among Tegucigalpa residents and has escalated into shouts for change.

Moving the airport out of Tegucigalpa would have many advantages. Not only would it eliminate the challenge of landing in mountainous terrain, it would also give planners the space they need for a safe, modern terminal. It would also free up the land currently occupied by Toncontin -- land smack in the middle of the nation's capital -- for uses like a new seat of government or the construction of much-needed housing. The sale of this land could go a long way toward financing the new airport. Other countries have also shown interest in participating in the construction of a new facility.

There are airports in this world that are worse than Toncontin. But most of them are better. Today, when much of Honduras' economic future depends on its contact with international investors and tourists, the construction of a modern new airport in the nation's capital is a comparatively small, relatively easy and wholly necessary step in laying the foundation for the country's future.

Hopefully, it won't take another tragedy for us to finally understand.

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BAD EXPERIENCE WITH ISLEÑA

Dear Editor:

Recently we had the pleasure of traveling to Roatan. Everything was perfect: the weather, diving, and the food. It appeared as if nothing could spoil a perfect trip. Well, it all started when I bought four Islena Airlines tickets through an authorized representative in West End for an 8 a.m. flight.

When we arrived the next morning at the Roatan airport, the Islena agent told us that there has not been an 8 o'clock flight for over a month now. When I asked why their representative in West End gladly took our money for a flight that did not exist, he simply said that is wasn't their fault and that we would have to wait until 10 a.m. With white-water rafting plans already made in La Ceiba, our day would be ruined.

Not only did this certain Isleña representative tell me that it wasn't their fault, they also said it was impossible to switch us to either of the two other airlines leaving at 8:00. We discovered later in La Ceiba from an Islena agent that this was untrue. My persistence in this matter must have tired the man because he then lied to me again saying that only the original vendor of the ticket can return my money. By this time the other 8 o'clock flights had left and we just wanted to fly all the way to San Pedro Sula, preferably not on an Isleña flight. I went back to West End, paying taxi fares to find that the original agent would not refund our money either.

As if refusing to correct an error that was obviously theirs was not maddening enough, the two representatives insulted us in Spanish and just laughed at us when we persisted that they refund our money. Not even the Islena supervisor on duty would leave his office to discuss the problem. The man at the desk told me that, "He (the supervisor) doesn't want to talk to you."

By now I was furious and just wanted to catch the Sosa flight that left at 10 o'clock for La Ceiba and then continued on to San Pedro. Wouldn't you know that the Isleña flight left Roatan almost one hour late, leaving us to contemplate the only other flight left, 2 p.m., on Isleña. Needless to say, we took the bus.

I have been living in Honduras for over two years now and have endured my fare share of inconveniences, but have never been so mistreated and insulted. Islena Airlines is the poorest excuse for an airline that I have ever encountered and I urge any traveler reading this account to not consider Islena Airlines in the future.

Wayne Warrington

Yocon, Olancho

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