Maya Island Air is Belize’s leading domestic commercial passenger airline offering Air Travel, Charter and Freight Services. The airline was formed and started operations in 1962 as Maya Airways. It was established to succeed the government-owned British Honduras Airways which had ceased operations in 1961. On May 8th 1989, Island Air began providing similar airline services to San Pedro and Belize City. As the need for air services throughout Belize grew, executives of Maya Airways and Island Air began planning and negotiating a merger that would eventually become one of the biggest and most successful in the industry. On December 1st 1997, Maya Airways and Island Air merged to form Maya Island Air.