Honduras Airport Network

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InterAirport, a consortium headed by SFO Enterprises, was awarded the contract to expand, rehabilitate and operate four airports in Honduras. The contract has a duration of 20 years, and a total of US$ 120 million will be invested in infrastructure. About 40% of this total will go to Tegucigalpa (new terminal and runway extension), 25% to San Pedro Sula, and 35% to La Ceiba and Isla de Roatan. The sponsor took over the management of the facilities in Oct. 2000. InterAirport will transfer 39.7 percent of the gross revenues to the government. In 1999, a total of 1.2 million passengers used the airports. In 2003, the contract was amended whereby this canon was reduced to 34.4 percent of gross revenues. Starting in 2001, the SFO Enterprises management came under scrutiny for potentially having defrauded the bidding system, for giving the impression that San Francisco International Airport (SFIA) was to be the manager of the airport. SFO Enterprises is a specially created venture by certain executives connected to SFIA, which critics have suggested is outside the law, and that the city of San Francisco could be held liable for any problems encountered by the airport management company's overseas operations. The Superintendencia de Concesiones of Honduras has fined Interairports $10,000 for failing to live up to contractual benchmarks for improving airport operations. In 2003 the concessionaire was again fined in the amount of US$8.5 million, for failing to comply with investment requirements as stated in the concession contract. The concessionaire was expected to propose alternate investment solutions in an effort to avoid paying the fine.