Eugenio María de Hostos Airport

Eugenio María de Hostos Airport
IATA: MAZ – ICAO: TJMZ – FAA LID: MAZ
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Puerto Rico Ports Authority
Location		Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Elevation AMSL		28 ft / 9 m
Coordinates		18°15′21″N 067°08′55″W / 18.25583°N 67.14861°W / 18.25583; -67.14861Coordinates: 18°15′21″N 067°08′55″W / 18.25583°N 67.14861°W / 18.25583; -67.14861
Map
TJMZ Location in Puerto Rico
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
9/27	4,998	1,523	Asphalt
Statistics (2005)
Aircraft operations			17,900
Passenger Movement			12,568 (2,010)
Based aircraft			13
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] 2010 passengers from the Puerto Rico Ports Authority

Eugenio María de Hostos Airport (IATA: MAZ, ICAO: TJMZ, FAA LID: MAZ) is a small public airport located four miles (6 km) north of the central business district of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The airport, named after the celebrated Mayagüez native Eugenio Maria de Hostos, covers 172 acres (70 ha) and has one runway. It offers limited commercial service, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

History

Eugenio María de Hostos Airport used to be the main air gateway to the western region of Puerto Rico, until Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla took over that position.

The airport was served heavily by the Puerto Rican national air carrier, Prinair, during the 1970s and early 1980s. It took the airport three years to get commercial service again once Prinair went bankrupt in 1984. American Eagle opened service from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in 1987, and Eastern Air Lines, not to be outdone by their rival American's feeder carrier, soon began services there too, with their own feeder airline, Eastern Metro Express.

Although the airport has always been a turbo-prop aircraft airport, Pan Am announced, in 2002, intentions to install jet flights between Mayagüez and Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with Boeing 727s. Those plans never became a reality, but in 2003, the airport gained international status, when Fina Air picked up the route to Santo Domingo. Fina Air has since gone out of business.

On November 8, 2004, American Eagle filed a 90-day notice of intent to the DOT to end service to Mayagüez on February 5, 2005 due to poor loads. MAZ is an Essential Air Service market therefore American Eagle's service was extended by the DOT until the newly selected carrier, Cape Air, began operations. American Eagle ended operations on April 30, 2005.

Incidents

The airport has been involved in various air tragedies over its lifetime:

• American Eagle Flight 5452 crashed while landing on May 8, 1987, killing two and damaging the airport perimeter fence.
• A Prinair Heron aircraft fell while landing there, killing all nine passengers^{[citation needed]}.
• On June 7, 1992, American Eagle Flight 5456, a CASA C-212 aircraft from San Juan crashed one mile short of runway 9, killing all five people onboard.

Airline and destination

Airlines	Destinations
Cape Air	San Juan [2]

References

1. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for MAZ (Form 5010 PDF), retrieved 2007-03-15
2. ^ Cape Air: Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico portal

External links

• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 20 October 2011
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for TJMZ
  • ASN accident history for MAZ
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker for TJMZ
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations for TJMZ
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for MAZ

• Essential Air Service documents (Docket Number 19622) from the U.S. Department of Transportation:
  • Order 2007-4-18: Selecting Hyannis Air Service, d/b/a Cape Air, to provide EAS for two year period beginning May 1, 2007
  • Order 2007-2-4: Request for proposals to provide essential air service for two year period beginning May 1, 2007
  • Order 2005-3-2: Selecting Hyannis Air Service, d/b/a Cape Air, to provide EAS for two years through April 30, 2007