Juan Santamaría International Airport

Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)
Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)
IATA: SJO – ICAO: MROC
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Costa Rica
Operator	Aeris Holdings Costa Rica under ADC & HAS and Andrade Gutiérrez Concesores
Serves	San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago
Location	Alajuela Province
Elevation AMSL	921 m / 3,022 ft
Coordinates	09°59′38″N 084°12′32″W / 9.99389°N 84.20889°WCoordinates: 09°59′38″N 084°12′32″W / 9.99389°N 84.20889°W
Map
	MROC Location in Costa Rica
Runways
Statistics (2010)
Passengers	3,120,870
	Source: Costa Rican AIP

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For the airport in San Jose, California, see Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport.

Juan Santamaría International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría) (IATA: SJO, ICAO: MROC) is located in Alajuela Province, about 20 km (12 mi) 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 is the second busiest airport in Central America after Tocumen International Airport in Panamá, with 4.1 million passengers.^[2]^{[not in citation given]}

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 1999 for that year's airshow.^[2]^{[not in citation given]} The airport's major airlines are TACA/Lacsa with its international network and TACA's subsidiary Sansa for domestic flights.^[2]^{[not in citation given]} The airport has also a small hangar (called the "NASA" hangar) where research aircraft are kept that operate in Costa Rica.^{[citation needed]} including the Martin B-57 Canberra high altitude aircraft.^[2]^{[not in citation given]}

The Costa Rican government charges a $28 USD departure fee, which can be paid in cash (dollars or colones) or by credit card. The fee can be paid at the airport or in advance at most hotels and banks.^[2]^{[not in citation given]}

[edit] Infrastructure

The airport has 17 gates, nine of them with jet bridges. It is capable of housing 17 commercial airplanes at the same time. There are three waiting rooms built on the first floor of the airport, next to the VIP room, for regional and domestic flights.

[edit] 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 1 July 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 was scheduled to be completed by 1 December 2010, with part of the terminal (including the new immigration hall) to be inaugurated 1 May 2010.^[2]^{[not in citation given]}

Building under construction
Construction at the airport

[edit] International parking positions

Gates With Jet Bridges: Nine
Gates Without Jet Bridges: Two (Positions 1 and 11)

[edit] Lounges

A business/VIP lounge is located in the lower level of the main terminal, near Gate 4A. VIP Lounge Costa Rica is for business/first class passengers of selected airlines, travel companies, banks, Priority Pass program members, or any passenger who pays a fee. A diplomatic receptions room is situated in the main terminal and only open to diplomatic visitors.

[edit] Ground transportation

There is a bus stop outside the airport for the Alajuela - San José and Alajuela - Heredia route in both directions^[3]. Buses from other routes also stop there, however, visiting tourists not staying in the immediate downtown San José area are recommended^{[by whom?]} not to attempt to figure out the bus system without fluent Spanish.^{[citation needed]} It is better^{[citation needed]} to arrange private meet and greet and transfer service which is easily done through a variety of transportation companies that service all areas of Costa Rica. The cost of a nice comfortable private van is usually the same as a regular taxi.^{[citation needed]}

Licensed taxis are available in the airport and 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 licensed and employs orange taxis.

[edit] Terminals, airlines and destinations

[edit] Main Terminal [M]

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

[edit] Sansa Terminal [S]

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: Montreal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson,Vancouver	M
American Airlines	Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York-JFK	M
Can Jet	Seasonal: Toronto-Pearson	M
Condor	Frankfurt, Santo Domingo	M
Copa Airlines	Managua, Panama City, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa	M
Copa Airlines Colombia	Bogotá, Guatemala City, Panama City	M
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta	M
Frontier Airlines	Denver	M
Iberia	Madrid	M
JetBlue Airways	Orlando	M
Spirit Airlines	Fort Lauderdale	M
TACA Airlines	San Salvador	M
TACA Airlines operated by Lacsa	Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Guayaquil, Guatemala City, Havana, Lima, Los Angeles, Managua, Medellín, Mexico City, Miami, New York-JFK, Panama City, Quito, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago de Chile, Santo Domingo, Tegucigalpa, Toronto-Pearson	M
TACA Peru	Lima	M
TACA Airlines operated by Aeroperlas	Albrook	M
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
United Airlines	Houston-Intercontinental, Newark	M
US Airways	Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix	M