Ever since the esteemed airline LACSA ceased operations, air travelers and the aviation community have been anxiously waiting for the day Costa Rica will once again have its very own international airline. That day may come later this year as the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (Spanish initials: DGAC) is preparing to officially certify Air Costa Rica in the next few months.

Air Costa Rica is a $5 million joint venture with Air Panama, a regional airline based in the Albrook Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport. Like Air Panama, Air Costa Rica will begin flying charter flights to select international destinations.

Civil aviation certification is the most important part of the airline registration process in Costa Rica. The new airline is working on this step as well as on the training of pilots, aircraft officers, flight crew, and ground support personnel such as technicians, mechanics, etc. The certification process will begin with a Boeing 737 jet, and the initial routes will include:

• San Jose – Panama
• San Jose – Mexico
• San Jose – Nicaragua
• San Jose – San Andres

Air Costa Rica recognizes the niche demand for affordable flights to the destinations above, and thus it is moving to offer service thereto. The San Jose – Panama air route, for example, could prove useful to perpetual tourists on visa runs, and service to Nicaragua would benefit the sizable immigrant population in Costa Rica.

Once the airline begins operating in earnest, it plans to add more destinations. Air Costa Rica is one of two airlines that were envisioned by business groups in the wake of Colombian airline Avianca’s decision to suspend non-stop service between San Jose and the South American destinations of Bogota, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago; this decision was accompanied by pink slips for nearly 70 employees who were laid off with severance. The other proposed airline, Ticos Air, has indefinitely suspended its certification process.

Source: CRHoy.com