Juan Santamaría International Airport

Juan Santamaría International Airport, Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría,  is located in Alajuela about 20 km from downtown San José, Costa Rica. It is a hub airport for TACA/Lacsa, and focus city airport for Copa Airlines. 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, which is Costa Rica's primary international airport, serves a great number of tourists from Canada, Europe and the United States. There are three other international airports in the country, but of those only the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste is served by major airlines. Currently, Juan Santamaría with 4.1 million passengers, is the second busiest airport in Central America after Tocumen International Airport in Panamá.

The airport's main runway allows for operations of large, widebody aircraft. Currently some scheduled flights are operated with Airbus A330 and A340, and Boeing 747 and 767, for both passengers and freight. A Concorde landed in the year 1999 for that year's airshow. The airport's major airlines are TACA/Lacsa with its international network and TACA's subsidiary Sansa for domestic flights. The airport has also a small hangar (called the "NASA" hangar) where they keep research aircraft that operate in Costa Rica. Among the most relevant aircraft operated from this hangar is the WB-57F high altitude aircraft.

The Costa Rican government charges a $26 USD departure fee, which can be paid in cash (U.S. dollars or equivalent in Colones) or may be paid by Credit Card. The fee can be paid at the airport or in advance at most hotels and banks.

Lounges

A business/VIP lounge is located in the lower level of the main terminal, across gate 4A. 'VIP Lounge Costa Rica' is the only lounge of this kind in the Juan Santamaria airport, and is exclusively for business/first class passengers of selected airlines, travel companies, banks, Priority Pass program members. Also, any passenger can use the lounge for a fee.

A Diplomatic Receptions Room is situated in the main terminal and only open to Diplomatic visitors.

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Operations and administration

The airport was operated by Alterra Partners from 2001 to 2009 as part of a plan to improve the airport by the Costa Rican government. As of July 1, 2009, the privately owned Houston-based Canadian-American company ADC & HAS and the Brazilian company, Andrade Gutierrez Concessoes (AGC) - subsidiary of the conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez - took over the operations and administration of Alterra Partners as the previous operators and administrators (AGI, Bechtel, SRL) had mismanaged the airport and its construction and were in non-compliance of the concession contract. The debt financing was arranged through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). In Dec 2009, Alterra Partners changed its name to AERIS Holdings, S.A. and the new operators/administrators of the concession installed a new management team with the objective of making it a world class airport. The management team is composed of Carlos Plass as CEO (former CEO of Santiago International Airport in Chile), Tom Bartlett as COO (former COO of the Houston Airport System in Houston) and Rafael Mencia as CFO (former CFO of Aerodom, the company managing the concession for Santo Domingo Airport and five other airports in the Dominican Republic). Under this management, the construction for the expansion of the terminal is on schedule and is expected to be completed by Dec 1, 2010, with part of the terminal (including the new immigration hall) to be inaugurated May 1, 2010.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Main Terminal 

The major operator in the airport is TACA/LACSA, followed by Copa Airlines, Continental Airlines and American Airlines. The following airlines have scheduled direct services to and/or from Juan Santamaría International Airport (as of September 2010):

Sansa Terminal 

All domestic flights depart from the Sansa Terminal.

Airlines Destinations Terminal

Aeroméxico Mexico City M

Air Canada Toronto-Pearson M

Air Panama David M

Air Transat Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson M

American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami

Seasonal: New York-JFK 

Avianca operated by Lacsa Bogotá 

Condor Frankfurt via Santo Domingo 

Continental Airlines Houston-Intercontinental, Newark 

Copa Airlines Guatemala City, Managua, Panama City, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa 

Copa Airlines Colombia Bogotá, Guatemala City, Panama City 

Delta Air Lines Atlanta 

Frontier Airlines Seasonal: Denver

Iberia Madrid 

JetBlue Airways Orlando

Spirit Airlines Fort Lauderdale

TACA Airlines Guatemala City, Mexico City, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa

TACA Airlines operated by Lacsa Bogotá, Caracas, David, Guayaquil, Havana, Lima, Los Angeles, Managua, Medellín, Miami, New York-JFK, Panama City, Quito, San Salvador, Santo Domingo

TACA Peru Lima

TACA Airlines operated by Aeroperlas Panama-Albrook [begins May 16, 2011]

TACA Regional operated by Sansa Airlines Barra del Colorado, Bocas del Toro, Coto 47, Drake Bay, Golfito, Liberia, Limon, Managua, Nosara, Palma Sur, Puerto Jimenez, Punta Islita, Quepos, Tamarindo, Tambor, Tortuguero S

US Airways Charlotte

Seasonal: Philadelphia, Phoenix

San Jose costa rica

San José, Saint Joseph", San José, is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.

Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San José is one of the youngest capital cities in Latin America by year of conception, though it was not named capital until 1823. Today it is a modern city with bustling commerce, brisk expressions of art and architecture, and spurred by the country's improved tourism industry, it is a significant destination and stopover for foreign visitors.

The population of San José Canton is 365,799, though the metropolitan area stretches beyond the canton limits and comprises a third of the country's population. San José exerts a strong influence on a wider range because of its proximity to other cities (Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago) and the country's demographic assemblage in the Central Valley.

The city lies at a mean elevation of 1,161 m above sea level, and enjoys a stable climate throughout the year, with an average temperature of 25oC (77oF) and annual precipitation of 1800 mm, more than 90% of it falling in the rainy season from May to November.

University of Santo Tomás, the first university of Costa Rica was established here in 1843. That institution maintained close ties with the Roman Catholic Church and was closed in 1888 by the progressive and anti-clerical government of President Bernardo Soto Alfaro as part of a campaign to modernize public education. The schools of law, agronomy, fine arts, and pharmacy continued to operate independently, but Costa Rica had no university proper until 1940, when those four schools were re-united to establish the modern University of Costa Rica (UCR), during the reformist administration of President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. San José serves as the headquarters of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The city is served by Juan Santamaría International Airport, 23 km west of downtown, in the city of Alajuela.

Transport in San Jose

Buses Private bus companies connect different areas of city with each other and the suburbs. During rush hours most buses are stuck in traffic, as in most capital cities, but in general the system is efficient and cheap. Services to other parts of the country are provided by private companies which have stations or stops at random locations spread all over the city center (there is no central bus station).

Train There are now trains to Heredia from Estación Atlantico and Belen (just south of Alajuela airport) from Estación Pacifico. These only run on weekdays between 6am to 9am and 4pm to 8pm, every half an hour. There are plans to extend services to Alajuela and Cartago, but that will probably not be for another few years. There is another train that runs from Pavas in the west to Curridabat in the east of the city, which only runs every hour very early in the morning and in the evening. There is no service at weekends.

Taxis Taxis are fairly cheap, but you should make sure they use the meter (taximetro). It starts at 550 colones for the first few kilometres and a journey from Barrio Amon to most of the bus stations costs about 1500 colones. Avoid taxis that hang around the Coca Cola area, especially those that approach you grinning and speaking in English when you get off the bus. From the airport there is a special system with orange taxis that you pay for in advance at a kiosk in arrivals. They are slightly more expensive (25$ to San Jose) but the cars are all new and they are more trustworthy.