Costa Rica Airport

Costa Rica Airport. Costa Rica has a wide net of airports along its territory (51.100 square kilometers - 31.937,5 square miles). There are also landing fields, some of them private, but of public access on the whole. The four main air terminals have their own facilities which accredit them as international airports:

Juan Santamaria International Airport

It is the most important in the country; it is located in the province of Alajuela, 18 kilometers (11.25 miles) from the capital, San Jose. It was necessary to enlarge its capacity, due to the number of passengers that use its services, (around 4 million yearly), and the variety of airlines that arrive and depart from it.

The Juan Santamaria International Airport Alajuela is the center of operations of the main Central American airlines, which offer trips to other countries of the American Continent. Also, it is the link for cargo and also tourism to several cities in the world. Within its installations, there is a NASA hangar for an experimental special plane in charge of taking detailed cartography of the whole Costa Rica territory.

The aircrafts that land more frequently in this terminal are the Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321, A340, and the Boeing 737, 757 and 767.

History

The airport was named after the Costa Rican hero Juan Santamaria, who in 1856 had a decisive participation in the battle that stopped a North American man, William Walker, from advancing into Costa Rican territory. Walker was the leader of a group named "filibusteros" (freebooters), and he tried to achieve the unification of Central America.

Previously, the main international airfield was located in La Sabana, which today is part of the urban center of the Costa Rica Capital. In 1952, people started working on what was then called "El Coco International Airport", inaugurated in 1958 and named later Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaria.

Due the increase of its operations, it was necessary to remodel and expand it, a process that was concluded in July 2007.

Daniel Oduber International Airport

The second most important air terminal in Costa Rica is the Daniel Oduber Quir�s International Airport. It is located in the North West of the country, in Liberia, capital of the Province of Guanacaste. It has a land field of 2.75 kilometers (1.6 miles) and a being 747 has already landed on it.

It is located 217 kilometers (135.6 miles) from the capital, San Jose, and works mainly as a bridge for the tourism of the area. It is the fastest way to get to places that are very attractive to visitors, mainly the beaches of the Peninsula de Nicoya, such as Tamarindo, Flamingo and Samara, Golfo de Papagayo and the Parque Nacional Marino de las Tortugas Baulas (Leatherback Turtles Marine National Park).

It was named after the former President of the Republic, Daniel Oduber Quiros, who was the one that had the idea of building the airport, since he was known as a promoter of the development and expansion in the province of Guanacaste.

Tobias Bola�os International Airport

The traffic of local aviation is reserved mainly to this air terminal. It is located just 8 kilometers from the capital of Costa Rica, on a land of 41 hectares. This airport is considered international and it is the main base for the general aviation into the country. It is a landing place for the majority of private charters, freight, tourist and aviation schools classes.

Approximately 80% of the planes registered in Costa Rica use this terminal.

Limon Airport

It is located in the coast of the Caribbean Sea of Costa Rica, just 2 kilometers from the city of Limon, capital of the province with the same name. In this port 70% of the Costa Rican imports and exports are managed. Before 1987, the year in which the road that joins Limon with the capital of the country was inaugurated, this airport was used just for national flights.

Its landing field, 1.200 meters long, was inaugurated in 1954 and expanded to 1.400 and 1.800 meters in 1955 and 1975, respectively. Nowadays, it works as an international airport.

National preferences

The most crowded airports in the country have access and services facilities. All of them work under the supervision of the Direccion General de Aviacion Civil (Civil Aviation General Department), which is an official governmental organism.

In Costa Rica are air terminals in several tourist towns, where different companies have their regular daily charters. For example, in the South area, the airport of Quepos has 10 daily flights operated by 2 companies. The nearest beaches and the Manuel Antonio National Park are the main attractions.

Also, the airport of Palmar Sur, in the Carretera Costanera Sur, offers facilities of access to beaches such as Playa Ballena, Playa Tortuga, Playa Ventanas y Playa Hermosa. In the North area, the airport of Tamarindo has several daily charters from different aviation companies.

On the other hand, there are other small airport around the national territory, as La Fortuna, Barra del Colorado, Barra de Tortuguero, Barra Parismina, Bat�n, Buenos Aires, Carrillo, Coto 47, Drake, Golfito, Gu�piles, Jac�, Liberia, Lim�n, Los Chiles, Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Nosara, Palmar Sur, Puerto Jim�nez, Palo Arco, Pandora, Punta Islita, Quebrada Azul, R�o Fr�o, Siquirres, San Isidro, Sixaola, Taboga Upala and others.

The service of the airlines covers the whole Costa Rican territory, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, and also from North to South.

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