Article: "Potential" International Airport on Ambegris Caye

[jlevine]

I have to wonder whether this is likely but I thought it was worth posting. I just don't see how Belize can support two international airports with a small population (331,900 in 2013 according to Wikipedia). But, stranger things have happened.

PM Barrow announces international airport to come to North Ambergris Caye - The San Pedro Sun News

 

[Yobubba]

I've lived on this island for over 20 years and hear about this airport every election. ain't gona happen!

 

[katzgar]

I have to wonder what the international destination would be. An international airport is more about entrance controls which dont require a huge building. The runway may not change at all depending on the equipment expected. The SW flights are expected to spur growth in Belize.

 

[diversteve]

I just don't see how Belize can support two international airports with a small population (331,900 in 2013 according to Wikipedia).

It's not the locals, it's getting the tourists on-island w/o the fuss of the flight/ferry from BZE now. Works for Roatan - those flights always seem to be full.

 

[jlevine]

True, but Honduras has 8 million people and enough traffic in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula to sustain those airports. The great thing about the hub/spoke system in Belize City is that airlines can add flights to support traffic to the entire country, not just to one island. Can Ambergris Caye generate enough business for airlines to justify adding flights specific to that location without significantly impacting PGIA? I don't know. I also wonder how shuttling people from North Ambergris to southern locations will work.

 

[Downing]

Well, southern Belize was supposed to get its own international airport. Land was cleared at the top of the Placencia peninsula and there's now a dirt runway of sorts. Good enough that a plane actually landed there a while back, and you can see it from the air by using Google Earth. But it's been stalled for years in typical Belizean fashion, and as far as I know nothing's been done there recently.

If it ever does open, I expect there will be a boom in the number of tourists and ex-pats headed for southern Belize. I have mixed feeling about that.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Actually it is paved and it was used when the heads of the Central America countries had a summit meeting in Placencia area.

Well, southern Belize was supposed to get its own international airport. Land was cleared at the top of the Placencia peninsula and there's now a dirt runway of sorts. Good enough that a plane actually landed there a while back, and you can see it from the air by using Google Earth. But it's been stalled for years in typical Belizean fashion, and as far as I know nothing's been done there recently.

If it ever does open, I expect there will be a boom in the number of tourists and ex-pats headed for southern Belize. I have mixed feeling about that.