General Flight and Airport Information
Flights to
Costa Rica arrive at two international airports. Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) is the largest, and sits just west of San José. The Daniel Oduber International Airport (LIR) is the other, serving the northwest beaches from its nearby location in Liberia, Guanacaste.
With arrivals everyday, flight numbers are continually on the increase, requiring that each airport is under perpetual renovation and enlargement to meet new demands. The SJO airport has changed management to Texas based company Houston Airport Systems (HAS), to obtain more financial aid for the renovations and expansions wanted. Even through the construction work, the airport at
San Jose is fashionable in design and easy to navigate. Well known fast food stores and gift shops can be found along with many quality (though over-priced) Costa Rican mementos.
The Liberia airport has it’s own unique feel with only three main rooms: one that holds the check-in counters, another where you wait for your flight and a third for arrivals and baggage claim. Guests are greeted at a large open-air room cooled by giant overhead fans with the Guanacaste countryside to their backs. The flight in is more than breathtaking as flights from the north sweep over the Four Season’s peninsula property before landing. Renovations are also scheduled to increase waiting spaces at the airport to allow for more passengers.
Costa Rica flights originate all over the world, with new routes being added daily, or so it seems. The two domestic airlines are Sansa and Nature Air, both providing service to remote destinations all over the country, as just about every region has an airport or gravel landing strip at the least.
Most domestic flights are on tiny twin-turbo prop aircraft and prices range from about $42 to $150 for domestic flights and flights to Panama.