The airlines have always had a stranglehold on the island and the resorts. This is why the land portion of the trip has always stayed so low- the local operators are robbing themselves to pay the airlines.
Airline Revenue Managers are not stupid. If they are filling the non-stop flights, they are not going to lower their prices. You can get cheaper airfares by routing through the mainland, but then the value of your lost vacation time has to be a factor in the equation.
Yet- somehow the airlines run full flights, about 200 passengers each way. Continental, Delta, and TACA were joined by the highly successful Sunwing out of Toronto.
Some (likely) current information at:
Transportation, Getting to Roatan Island, Honduras
It really depends upon what you want out of your trip. Yes- you can get to Coz for a hell of a lot less, but then again- you're stuck diving in Coz. There are people who understand that and want the diving they find on the South side of Roatan, there are people that want 27 dives a week (CCV), and there are also people who are just as happy with other things that Roatan offers.
Do you want a vacation with some diving? You can do that
anywhere in the Caribbean. You can do it most reasonably by staying in guest houses and diving with day-dive operations. Remember- not all who "go diving" really do that on their vacay. There is a lot of drinking going on for (sorry to say) the majority or vacation divers.
I base my dive vacation decisions on quality and uniqueness of diving first- then the number of dives easily possible. If CoCoView and the very localized South-side reef structure wasn't part of the equation, I wouldn't bother doing business with any of Roatan's airlines.
But, you bet- we don't jet back and forth as much as we used to.