Juan Santamaría International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría) (IATA: SJO, ICAO: MROC) is the primary airport serving San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The airport is located near the city of Alajuela, 20 km (12 miles) west of downtown San José. 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 US-American filibuster William Walker.
The airport is hub of local airline Nature Air and Sansa Airlines, and focus city airport for Copa Airlines and Avianca. It was the country's only international gateway for many years, but nowadays there is also an international airport in Liberia, Guanacaste. Both airports have direct flights to North and Central America and Europe, with the difference that Juan Santamaría International Airport also serves cities in South America and the Caribbean.
The airport's main runway allows for operations of large, widebody aircraft. Currently, some scheduled flights are operated with Airbuses A330 and A340, and Boeings 747, 767 and 777, for both passengers and freight. A Concorde landed in 1999 for that year's airshow. The airport has also a small hangar (called the "NASA" hangar) where research aircraft are kept that operate in Costa Rica including the Martin B-57 Canberra high altitude aircraft. (This hangar has since been removed as the mission was completed.)
Juan Santamaría International Airport was once the busiest airport in Central America, but currently it is ranked second after Tocumen International Airport in Panamá. In 2015, Juan Santamaría International Airport received 4.5 million passengers (both international and domestic). In 2011, the airport was named the 3rd Best Airport in Latin America - Caribbean from the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International
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History
The airport was built to replace the previous one in downtown San Jose where Parque La Sabana is located today. Funding was secured by the government in 1951 and construction proceed slowly until it was officially inaugurated on May 2, 1958. It was initially called "Aeropuerto Internacional el Coco" after its location of the same name in the province of Alajuela. It would later be renamed in honor of Juan Santamaría. In 1961 funding was secured to build the highway that connects the airport to downtown San José.
No major changes were made to the terminal until November 1997 when the government issued a decree requesting participation of private companies to manage the operations of the airport. After a few years of legal challenges and contract negotiations Alterra Partners was given a 20-year concession and started managing the facilities in May 2001. It was also expected that the company would finish the necessary expansion and construction of new facilities, however in March 2002 Alterra announced it would cease any further construction due to disagreements over financing and airport use fee billing with the government. The dispute was extended for a few years and problems started at the terminal; in 2005 the International Civil Aviation Organization pointed out that the airport did not comply with safety regulations.
In July 2009 Alterra yielded the contract to a consortium composed of Houston-based Canadian-American company ADC & HAS and the Brazilian company, Andrade Gutierrez Concessoes (AGC) - subsidiary of the conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez. In December 2009 Alterra Partners changed its name to AERIS Holdings, S.A. In November 2010 Aeris announced it had finished the expansion and construction of new facilities with the installation of the 9th boarding bridge.
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Ground transportation
The road access to the airport is on an exit at Route 1, and near the exit to Alajuela. There is a parking area with surcharge, plus a bus stop with plenty of services to San Jose downtown (with no exact schedule but with 24-hours bus service and approximately one service every 10 minutes during working hours). Licensed taxis are available in the airport and will generally accept both colones and U.S. dollars, but not other currencies. Costa Rican taxis are red with yellow triangles on the doors, ubiquitous all over the country, plus there is a special airport taxi service that is licensed and employs orange taxis.
Terminals and lounges
Main Terminal [M]
The major operator in the airport is Avianca, followed by Copa Airlines. The following airlines have scheduled direct services to and/or from Juan Santamaría International Airport (as of May 2013):
Domestic Terminal [D]
Sansa Airlines and Nature Air flights depart from the Domestic Terminal.
VIP lounges
- VIP Santamaría (Shared Avianca/Credomatic VIP)
- Copa Club
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
- ^1 Condor's flights to and from Frankfurt fly via Santo Domingo, the airline has rights to transport passengers solely from Santo Domingo to San Jose.
- ^2 Condor's flights to and from Munich fly via Punta Cana.
Cargo
Statistics
Juan Santamaria International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in Costa Rica, having experienced a constant increase in traffic since its opening in 1958, boosted by the growing flow of tourists. The airport reached more than one million passengers per year for the first time in 1991 and having a record number of passengers in 2015. Traffic movements reached its highest number in 2010, when the airport had 87,384 aircraft movements, while freight (in metric tons) reached a peak in 2011, with 98,609 tons.
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Accidents and incidents
- On May 23, 1988 a leased Boeing 727-100 (TI-LRC) operating the route San Jose-Managua-Miami, collided with a fence at the end of the runway in the Juan Santamaria International Airport, crashed at a nearby field next to a highway, and caught fire. The excess of weight in the front part of the airplane was the cause of the accident. There were no fatalities out of the 23 occupants.
- On January 16, 1990, SANSA Flight 32 crashed into the Cerro Cedral, a mountain shortly after take off from Juan Santamaria International Airport. All 20 passengers and 3 crew on board died in the crash.
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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