The Director of Civil Aviation has announced the recruitment of an international consultancy firm to determine the location of a major airport to replace Juan Santamaría in 2025.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation plans to open a large air terminal in the canton of Orotina in 2025, which will have the ability to receive double the amount of passengers as Juan Santamaria International Airport.
The current airport on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is easily flooded and lacks the necessary conditions for being an international terminal.
The abundant rainfall characteristic of the area often causes waters to flood the runway of the international airport, leaving it inoperative.
Now, an area has been identified which is "a flat, large unobstructed area west of the current terminal which could have the necessary characteristics for the new project."
Among the works scheduled in Costa Rica’s main airport is the extension of the remote ramp from its current 75,000 meters to 91,000 meters.
Next year San Jose International Airport will extend its operational capacity with new works, with an investment of $15 million.
Elfinancierocr.com quoted Luis Carlos Araya, Vice minister of Air Transport, who said "This allows us to streamline the process of entry and departure of aircraft both for cargo and passengers. In addition, it will improve efficiency, since aircraft will not have to be towed and can therefore enter on their own. "
A new satellite signal system, installed at the Juan Santamaria Airport in Costa Rica, will reduce the prohibitive zone of tall buildings in areas near the terminal.
Edwin Jimenez, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said the municipalities of Alajuela and Belen will be affected by these changes, because in those places there is interest in constructing buildings with heights of over twenty meters.
The international airport in the capital of Costa Rica, will be too small to meet the air traffic needs of Costa Rica in the next 10 years.
In 1996 the U.S. consultancy firm TAMS Inc. "recommended the Civil Aviation authority to move the administration of Juan Santamaria Airport into private hands, while a new terminal was being built", which should be operational in 2020.
The hangar used by Servicios Aeroindustriales will relocate from its current position to make room for the terminal expansion at Juan Santamaria International Airport.
After 15 years of discussions, the government of Costa Rica and Self-Management Cooperative Aeroindustriales Services (Coopesa) have reached a final agreement for the relocation of the hangar where aircraft maintenance services are provided, which until now has sat on the north side of the passenger terminal at the international Airport, preventing the necessary expansion of the Juan Santamaría.
The Government has discarded plans to build a 'mega-airport' between Sierpe and Palmar de Osa and is proposing a terminal to attend to charter and corporate flights.
Concern from environmentalists, because the construction would take place near the great Térraba-Sierpe marsh, along with complaints from the tourist industry about the impact on a region that lacks sufficient hotel facilities, contributed to the change in plans.
According to the country's National Concessions Council (CNC in Spanish) the construction of the new passenger terminal for Daniel Oduber airport will begin in October.
The new terminal will occupy a 23,000 m2 surface area and enable the airport's capacity to increase to 1,500 passengers. It will be built by Coriport S.A.
The works, which are set to begin nine months behind schedule, will take between six and eight months to complete, according to Nacion.com.