AIRWAYS HISTORY TAN Airlines
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possible scheduled passenger and cargo flights . Pan American Airways became concerned and filed an objection with the CAB , stating that Tegucigalpa was already well served .
Shelton countered that Tegucigalpa was not well served ! Under Pan American ’ s existing 1949 schedule , it was only possible to travel between Tegucigalpa and Miami , in either direction , three times weekly , and this required a stop in San Salvador , with a change of plane at Guatemala City , then followed by additional stops at both Merida and Havana — exceeding 10 hours in elapsed time .
TAN proposed to operate two round trips each week along a direct routing between Tegucigalpa and Miami via Havana , with an elapsed time of 5 hours 45 minutes , cutting over four hours from the Pan Am service via Guatemala City .
On June 12 , 1950 , the United States government authorized a Foreign Air Carrier permit for TAN Airlines , allowing scheduled passenger and cargo flights between Tegucigalpa and Miami with an intermediate stop in Havana . However , no traffic rights were granted between Cuba and the US . While TAN was a Honduran airline , with its aircraft registered in that country , its flight operations were always based in Miami . Nevertheless , TAN made history for becoming the first Honduran carrier to serve the United States .
TAN started with only one round trip per week , but the flights were empty . The public was not quick to choose this little unknown airline flying antiquated C-46 aircraft over the prestigious Pan American
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