Juan Santamaría International Airport
| Juan Santamaría International Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| IATA: SJO – ICAO: MROC – FAA: SJO | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | Alterra Partners | ||
| Operator | Lacsa | ||
| Serves | San José, Costa Rica Alajuela, Costa Rica Heredía, Costa Rica |
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| Elevation AMSL | 3,021 ft / 921 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 07/25 | 9,881 | 3,012 | Asphalt |
Juan Santamaría International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Juan
Santamaría) (IATA:
SJO, ICAO: MROC) is located in
Alajuela about 20 km from San José, Costa Rica.
It is named after Costa Rica's National Hero Juan Santamaría, a courageous drummer boy
who died in 1856 defending his country against forces led by American adventurer William Walker. The airport, which is Costa Rica's primary airport, serves about three million
people each year, a great number of them tourists from Canada, Europe and the United States. There are three other international airports in the country but only the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste is served by major airlines. A
fifth international airport is in process of being constructed in the southern region of the country, and according to government
authorities it will be ready in 2010.
The airport serves as a hub for TACA/Lacsa for its international network and for TACA's subsidiary Sansa for its domestic network.
The airport's long runway allows for operations of large, widebody aircraft. The most common are A300, A310, A340, Boeing 767, and Boeing 747. A Concorde landed in year 1999 for that year's airshow.
The airport has a small NASA hangar where they keep research aircraft that operate in Costa Rica. Among the most relevant aircraft operated form this hangar is the WB-57F high altitude aircraft.
The airport has the usual assortment of duty-free shops. Unlike most other airports, these shops can be accessed by arriving passengers as well. It also has a food court that includes some fast-food restaurants.
Juan Santamaria charges a $26 USD departure tax which can be paid in cash (U.S. dollars or Costa Rican colones) or by Visa.
Infrastructure
This airport is the second busiest airport in Central America and has 10 gates, 5 of them with jetways, and another 4 jetways will be added to the gates in the new parts of the terminal in december 2007. There are 3 waiting rooms built on the first floor of the airport, next to the V.I.P room, for regional flights. The airport's VIP room is considered the best in Central America.
 gates 7, 8, and 9. |
 gates 1, 2, and 3. |
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Ground Transportation
There is a bus stop outside the airport. The Alajuela - San José route buses stop there in both directions. Buses from other routes also stop there.
Taxis are available, there are also some unlicensed taxis charging considerably more, and some charging considerably less. Taxis will generally accept both colones and U.S. dollars, but not other currencies. Licensed taxis are red with yellow triangles on the doors, additionally there is an airport taxi service that is licenced and employs orange taxis- their rates are significantly higher than that of the non-airport taxis.
There is an ATM available at the baggage claim area (VISA, MasterCard) and another in the second level by the curbside of the entrance to departures (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) that dispenses colones and US dollars.
Airlines and destinations
Terminal 1
The major operator in the airport is TACA, followed by Copa Airlines and Continental Airlines. The following airlines have scheduled services to Juan Santamaría International Airport as of June 2007. :
- Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson)
- Air Caraibes (Pointe-a-Pitre Intl. Airport) [begins December 11]
- Air Comet (Madrid)
- Air Panama (Bocas del Toro, David)
- Air Transat (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
- American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale [begins December 14], Los Angeles [seasonal; resumes November 15], Miami)
- Condor Airlines (Frankfurt, Santo Domingo)
- Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
- Copa Airlines (Guatemala City, Managua, Panama City, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa)
- Cubana de Aviación (Havana, Guatemala City)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK [begins February 15])
- Frontier Airlines (Denver) [begins November 30]
- Iberia (Madrid)
- Livingston Energy Flight (Milan-Malpensa) [seasonal]
- Martinair (Miami, Orlando)
- Mexicana (Mexico City, Panama City, Guatemala City)
- Paradise Air [Domestic Charter] (La Fortuna, Barra de Colorado, Barra de Tortuguero, Batán, Barra Parismina, Buenos Aires, Carrillo, Coto 47, Drake, Golfito, Guapiles, Jaco, Liberia, Limón, Los Chiles, Nicoya, Nosara, Palma del Sur, Puerto Jiménez, Palo Arco, Pandora, Punta Islita, Quebrada Azul, Quepos, Río Frío, Siquirres, San Vito, San Isidro, Sixoala, Taboga, Tamarindo, Tambor, Upala)
- Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale)
- Sunwing Airlines (Toronto) (seasonal)
- TACA
- TACA Operated by Lacsa (Bogotá, Caracas, Chicago-O'Hare, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Lima, Los Angeles, Managua, Mexico City, Miami, New York-JFK, Panama City, Quito, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago de Chile)
- TACA Operated by Sansa (Barra Colorado, Coto47, Drake Bay, Golfito, Liberia, Limon, Nosara, Palmar Sur, Punta Islita, Puerto Jimenez, Quepos, Samara-Carrillo, Tambor, Tamarindo, Tortuguero)
- TACA Operated by Aeroperlas (David)
- US Airways (Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix)
MOST COMMON CHARTER AIRLINES
- Aeroméxico (Mexico City)
- Aladia (Cancún)
- TACA operated by Lacsa (Cancún, Medellin [begins December 15],San Andres Island, San Juan (PR)) [scheduled charters]
Cargo Airlines
- DHL
- UPS
- Gemini Air Cargo
- Arrow Cargo
- Tradewinds
- Atlas Air
- Polar Air Cargo
- Air Transport International
- Martinair Cargo
- Lineas Aereas Suramericanas
- MasAir
- ABX Air
- Florida West International Airways
- LAN Chile Cargo
- Aerounion
- American Airlines
- Grupo Taca
- Iberia Airlines
- Southern Air
New Infrastructure
Since 1997, a project to expand and renovate Juan Santamaria International airport was initiated. The project has been on the public spotlight, under allegations of private enterprise inefficiency. The airport has been operated by Alterra Partners since 2001 as part of a plan to improve the airport by the Costa Rican government. In 2002-2003 they made major changes to the old terminal because it was not capable of handling the rapidly-increasing number of passengers and airlines, and demolished the old control tower and built a new one with a design matching that of the new terminal. Now the airport has a new terminal under construction with three new passenger waiting rooms and seven new jetway bridges. The construction has been stalled repeatedly by Alterra, claiming lack of sufficient funding, and after several years' delay, there is no foreseeable completion date yet.
 terminal in january 2008 |
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New Airlines and New Routes
- American Airlines will begin daily service from Fort Lauderdale on December 14.
- Delta Air Lines will fly 5 times weekly to New York, starting February 15 2008.
- Frontier Airlines is expecting to fly to and from Denver on November 30, and Los Angeles by 2008.
- TACA has intentions to introduce scheduled flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico since the route has a lot of success with the chartered flights and will increase the route San Jose-Lima from 10 weekly flights to 14 weekly flights on October 21.In retribution of Aerorepublica services from Colombia, it´s possible for TACA to fly Medellin.
- Aerorepublica It was authorized by colombian aeronautical entity to start flights between Bogota, Medellin and San Jose.
- Air Caraibes According to the web page the airline will start service from Pointe a Pitre airport in Guadeloupe on December 11.
- Air China Costa Rica might be a destination for the airline since there is a high amount of Chinese people in the country, and also because of Costa Rica's diplomatic bonds with China.
- Sunwing Airlines The airline has intentions of starting flights from Toronto.
Previous Routes
- Aero Costa Rica (Miami, Orlando, San Pedro Sula, San Andres Island)
- Aeronica (Panama, Managua)
- Air France (Lima, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Air Madrid (Madrid)
- America West Airlines(Phoenix) joined US airways group.
- American Airlines (New York-JFK)
- Avianca (Bogotá)
- Braniff Airlines (Miami)
- British Airways (London-Heathrow, San Juan)
- Eastern Air Lines (Miami)
- Iberia Airlines (Guatemala City, Miami, Panama City)
- KLM (Amsterdam)
- Lacsa (Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, San Juan (PR))
- LADECO (Guayaquil, Santiago de Chile)
- LTU (Miami)
- Pan Am (Miami, New York-JFK)
- Sahsa (Panama, Managua, Tegucigalpa)
- SAM Colombia (Bogotá,Guatemala, Medellin, San Andres,San Salvador,Tegucigalpa)
- Servivensa (Guatemala, Bogotá, Caracas)
- United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Los Angeles, Washington-Dulles)
- Varig (Guayaquil, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo)
- VIASA (Cartagena, Caracas)
- West Caribbean Airways (Bogotá, Medellin, San Andres)
 British Airways in year 2000 |
External links
- World Aero Data airport information for MROC
- Flight Information
- Dirección General de Aviacion Civil de Costa Rica Costa Rican Aviation Authority
- Alterra Partners (official airport site, in Spanish)
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