By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica Due to COVID, rules and procedures continue to change and evolve regarding travel and how one remains legally in Costa Rica. For tourists and those of you preparing for or waiting to have your applications for legal residency submitted (by appointment) or for those of you awaiting approval on submitted applications, the dreaded border runs ar...

Getting through Immigration can be stressful. Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Paulina Porizkova found getting through Immigration at Juan Santamaria Airport last week completely overwhelming. Her meltdown was so intense, that she was put in a wheelchair and taken right back to the airplane that brought her. Porizkova’s challenge was that she attempted to enter Costa Rica with an expired p...

With the objective of reactivating tourism and employment in the country, especially in the rural areas of Costa Rica including Guanacaste, the North Zone, Central and South Pacific and the Caribbean, the Government announced today during a press conference that national and foreign travelers flying in will no longer need a Covid-19 negative test to enter the country. “This decision is taken in...

By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica As of Oct. 15: Residents of Florida, Georgia and Texas will be allowed into Costa Rica. As of Nov. 1: All U.S. citizens and residents will be allowed into Costa Rica. Please click here for Laura's personal travel experience from Costa Rica to the USA and back during the COVID-19 Pandemic. For a comprehensive list of all originating coun...

Muffadal Saylawa, Founder and CEO of Oro Chocolate, was en route to Chocoa, Europe’s largest sustainable chocolate convention, when disaster struck. He was traveling well-prepared, having bought plane tickets to Amsterdam, booked an airb&b, rented a booth at the convention, and recruited his sister to help with sales – Muffadal was filled with hope for taking his gourmet chocolate company to t...

By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica On September 3, United Airlines flight 1080 non-stop to Newark was the first commercial passenger flight out of Costa Rica in six months. I was on it to visit family in New Jersey. In reviewing those trips to Newark and back to Costa Rica seven days later on September 10, I hope to answer persistent questions still coming to me from stress...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) confirmed that as of September 13 the country will increase gradually, but significantly, the number of authorized flights from the United States. As of that date, United Airlines will fly daily from Houston, Texas to the Juan Santamaría Airport and three times a week to the Daniel Oduber Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste. It is possible that the number of fligh...

So we all have heard that there are new requirements to travel to Costa Rica once the airports reopen to select countries August 1st.  Tourists that plan to visit Costa Rica during the upcoming weeks will have to follow all sanitary measures in place and comply with certain requirements, such as taking a Covid-19 test 48 hours prior to the flight, filling out a form with the information for epi...

With baited breath everyone in the tourism sector of Costa Rica is awaiting the official reopening of the country. The List of authorized countries will be reevaluated on a bi weekly basis to ensure the safety of Costa Rica and all of it's citizens. At this moment in time commercial flights from the following countries will be allowed to begin arriving starting August 1st. Canada, United Kin...

Costa Rica's borders will remain officially closed through August 1st. The Juan Santamaria Airport updated the information they have on airlines' operations: AEROMEXICO: operations suspended until further notice. AIR CANADA: will resume operations in September. AIR FRANCE: will resume operations October 14th. AIR PANAMA: operations suspended until further notice. AIR TRANSAT: operations sus...

AERIS Holdings, administrator of the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica released the following updated information regarding the operation of the different airlines in the country under the current pandemic Covid-19: AEROMEXICO: operations suspended until further notice. AIR CANADA: will resume operations in July. AIR FRANCE: operations suspended until further notice. AIR PA...

As of Friday, April 10th the Ministry of Health in Costa Rica has confirmed a total 558 positive cases of Covid-19, 269 of the patients are women while 289 are men; 524 are Costa Rican and 34 foreigners. So far 42 patients have recovered while 20 are hospitalized and 13 of them are in intensive care. The country has registered three deaths so far, 2 senior citizens both 87 years of age and a 45...

AERIS Holdings, administrator of the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica, informed of how Covid-19 affects the air operations and provides the following information for passengers: AEROMEXICO: operations suspended from March 19 through April 12. AIR CANADA: last flight will be April 3 after this its operations will be suspended until new notice. AIR FRANCE: will operate normal...

Two American citizens were arrested at Juan Santamaria Airport on Thursday, November 28, and charged with money laundering. They arrived on a flight from Los Angeles, but were scheduled to fly out again two hours later on a flight to Atlanta. They are a 25-year old with last name of Skees, and a 41-year old with the last name of Howze. They were carrying more than turkey stuffing: between the two ...

Sun Country Airlines announced it will be adding the route the Costa Rica-Dallas route to its options starting the summer of 2020. Sun Country will connect Dallas, -Fort Worth (DFW) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) during the months of June, July and August 2020, with a flight departing at 8:00 a.m. from the Dallas Fort Worth airport ad arriving at the Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia, Guanacaste a...

Tourism and economic reactivation of the district of Drake in the Osa Península begins to show growth after an increase in the number of flights and passengers since the Drake airfield started operations in January. According to Guillermo Hoppe, General Director of Civil Aviation, the number of passengers using the new airfield during the first seven months of this year is of 12,727 almost doub...

The Daniel Oduber Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste is the best terminal in Latin America and the Caribbean in quality of services to travelers according to the Airport Service Quality Awards. The annual Airport Service Quality Awards recognize and reward the best airports in the world according to an ASQ Departure Survey and the ASQ Arrivals Survey. “These awards represent the highest possible ac...

The Technical Council of Civil Aviation (CETAC) and the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) will invest over $10 million USD in important works to improve the international airport of the province of Limon and the airfields of Guápiles and Tortuguero. “This is a country effort to promote economic reactivation, tourism, production, commerce and connectivity, staying in line with the mis...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) confirmed that during the first six months of this year, international arrivals by air grew to 1,335,687, which represents an increase of 4.5% over the same period in 2018, with 57,565 additional arrivals. If all ports of entry to the country are considered (air, sea, land and river), international arrivals grew to 1,725,963 in the first six months of the yea...

Starting November, JetBlue will offer a new route to connecting New York, USA to San José, Costa Rica , the announcement was made by the Costa Rican Tourism Board and Aeris, company in charge of the administration of the Juan Santamaría Airport. The direct flight #1793 will leave from John F. Kennedy Aiport in New York on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 6:25 p.m. and will arrive in San José a...

American Airlines announced it will have two new flights from the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to the Juan Santamaría Airport in Alajuela (SJO) and the Daniel Oduber Airport (LIR) in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The route JFK-SJO will begin operations November 21, the flight will be daily, leaving JFK at 3:59 p.m. and arriving in SJO at 9:42 p.m. and leaving SJO at 11:03 to arrive at New York...

Starting December 18 and through April 25, 2020, an Air Transat Airbus A321LR will connect Vancouver, Canada to San José and Liberia in Costa Rica. Tickets went on sale starting June 6 and will be offered twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, leaving Vancouver at 6:30 a.m. and arriving to Liberia, Guanacaste at 5:25 p.m. making an 80 minute stop at the Juan Santamaría Airport in San José. The...

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that Costa Rica does not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards and has been assigned a Category 2 rating based on a reassessment of the country’s civil aviation authority. A Category 2 International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) rating means the country either lack...

American Airlines will add, starting December 18, another daily flight from Dallas, Texas to two Costa R Rican destinations, the Juan Santamaria Airport and the Daniel Oduber Airport. Both flights will be scheduled during the evening (red-eye) and involve the use of a B737-800 plane with capacity for 172 passengers. “These new services between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Jose and Liberia, Gua...

The Juan Santamaria Airport will have a terminal exclusively for private international flights which will operate under the name GAT SJO General Aviation Terminal and that will be managed by Universal Aviation Costa Rica and other local partners. Costa Rica’s main international airport received over 800 private flights in 2018 and this number is expected to increase to at least 1000 this year. ...

Airports Council International (ACI) published the list of winners of its “Airport Service Quality Awards” which recognize those airports around the world that deliver the best customer experience in the opinion of their own passengers. In the category of under 2 million passengers, the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, took the second spot in Latin America and the Car...

The Upala airfield is now looking completely renovated after an investment of almost $2 million USD made by the Technical Council of Civil Aviation (CETAC) and the General Direction of Civil Aviation (DGAC). The Upala airfield had suffered severe deterioration after Otto Hurricane in November 2016; an intervention was necessary to fix and improve the conditions of the airfield. “The administ...

The Juan Santamaria Airport inaugurated this Friday the area known as Block Victor (Block V) which includes four new boarding rooms, contact bridges, basement to handle luggage, VIP room and pet area, among others. The block includes 6000 square meters ( 64,583.5 square ft.) in four levels and its another of the parts of the expansion plan of Aeris Holding Costa Rica, which has been executed b...

Civil Aviation in Costa Rica invested almost $5.7 million USD in the intervention of the Drake airport in Osa, Puntarenas, the updates were inaugurated by President Carlos Alvarado Wednesday January 17th. Tourism is the main economic activity in Drake, a region known for its lush raw nature. The project consisted of construction of a new 250 square meter terminal (2798.62 ft.), a platform to pa...

Costa Rica is the perfect place to escape from the cold winter of North America and Europe this time of the year. The high season has arrived in Costa Rica and will continue for the next four months, for as long as the perfect sunny days continue. The Juan Santamaria Airport expects close to 2.5 million travelers during this high season, 13 airlines increase their frequencies during these mont...

Civil Aviation in Costa Rica announced today the official reopening of the Quepos airstrip, which was supposed to be finished earlier this year. According to Captain Guillermo Hoppe, General Director of Civil Aviation, Quepos is the third airdrome in importance in terms of connectivity in the national network of airdromes. The plan to remodel this airstrip involves an investment of close to...

This Saturday, December 16, the first JetBlue Mint flight arrived at the Daniel Oduber Airport in Liberia, Guanacase, from New York; even though this connection already existed, the modality of the new flights (Mint) is one of the novelties in arrivals to Liberia since its one of the most exclusive international services. Liberia became, the first city in Latin America to offer Mint, JetBlue is...

The eruptions of the Turrialba Volcano the morning of this Wednesday caused the delay of almost two hours of five flights that were departing from the Juan Santamaria Airport. The flights affected included two flights from Copa Airlines to Panama, another two from American Airlines to Florida, and the fifth flight was from Avianca with destination to Guatemala. In addition to this, a flight ...

Over 10,000 local operations have been recorded in the six months following the inauguration of the San Jose Domestic Terminal, representing a total of 50,000 passengers arriving and departing from the terminal between May 14 to October 31 of this year. Starting in early November, the supply of regular local flights was strengthened by the launch of Costa Rica Green Airways, a Costa Rican-owned...

Aerobell Airlines began operations as a domestic airline in Costa Rica back on July 24 this year, flying to seven destinations: Tortuguero, Tamarindo, Tambor, Quepos, Drake Bay, La Fortuna (Arenal) and Puerto Jimenez, and now, it has confirmed the inauguration of four new routes: Nosara, Liberia, Golfito in Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro in Panama. The Costa Rican owned company has over 30 years...

A year and a half have gone by since the Solis Administration announced it had received the complete report regarding the technical viability for the international airport in Orotina, Alajuela, it also presented a few weeks later the much-awaited masterplan for the proposed project; this airport was meant to replace the Juan Santamaria International Airport which supposedly will be unable to meet ...

Manuel Jaquez, commercial cirector of low-cost airlines Volaris, announced this Thursday that the company will make of Costa Rica its Central American Hub. According to Jaquez, the company wants to give Costa Rica an airline with local identity as it once had; from here it will open new direct flights from Costa Rica to South America, the specific destinations were not revealed, but they will i...

The Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, will extend its operation hours to work 24/7 before the end of 2019. Currently, the Liberia Airport operates from 4 a.m. to 12 midnight, the decision of working an additional four hours responds to the increase of traffic to this terminal; this will also be beneficial to the region as it will create more jobs and will allow the att...

Mexican airline Aeromexico, inaugurated its flights connecting Liberia, Guanacaste to Mexico City, Mexico this Saturday, November 10 ; a route that will operate during the high season, ending April 21, 2019. The route is operated with planes with capacity for 99 passengers. This first flight departed from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia to Mexico City. Aeromexico has also ...

A Canadian man who attempted to leave Costa Rica through the Juan Santamaria Airport, was captured by officers of the Drug Control Police of the Ministry of Public Security, informed this institution today. The 26-year-old man of last name Clingo was scheduled to board a flight to Calgary, Canada last Thursday; when he was intercepted by Costa Rican authorities who detected a suspicious behavio...