Immigration officers stationed at the Peñas Blancas border crossing checkpoint between Costa Rica and Nicaragua detained a male traveler from the United States on Thursday. According to a news report broadcast by national television network Teletica Channel 7, the 30-year old man was coming from Nicaragua in what seemed to be a “visa run” to extend his status as a perpetual tourist. The U.S. ma...

Since late May 2015, major airlines in North America have been announcing great deals on low airfares to Costa Rica, and this trend seems to be developing into an all-out war. The ongoing airfare battle has been reported on by The Costa Rica Star over the last few months. One of the first airlines to launch an initial salvo in this battle for cheap plane tickets was Volaris, which operates in M...

Source: LATAM Sao Paulo, Aug 6 (EFE).- LATAM Airlines Group, which was born from the 2012 merger of Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM, said here Thursday that it will unify all of the conglomerate's brands under the name LATAM. Despite current political and economic challenges in Brazil, the region's biggest market, the group is looking to embark on "new paths and therefore uniting the brands is...

"Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 - Wallner" by Rolf Wallner - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(Jet-Aviation/Embraer-EMB-505-Phenom/2054788/L/. Licensed under GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons London, Aug 1 (EFE).- Several family members of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were killed in an airplane crash Friday in the south of England, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Britain confirmed ...

Pixabay Commons Beijing, Jul 26 (EFE).- A passenger deliberately started a fire with a cigarette lighter and gasoline on board a Shenzhen Airlines plane while it was in flight over China, although the fire was quickly extinguished and the man subdued and later arrested, the official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. The incident occurred about 1 p.m. local time on Sunday during a flight b...

Source: Southwest Airlines DALLAS, July 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is launching a three-day sale offering extra low fares for fall travel to its international destinations from ten domestic cities including Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas, Denver, Houston (Hobby), Chicago-Midway, Orlando, Orange County, and San Antonio. Customers can take advantage of...

(ICT Press Release, with additional reporting from The Costa Rica Star) – United States travel operator Apple Vacations recently announced the incorporation of a Saint Louis, Missouri-Liberia, Guanacaste route, that will be operated by XTRAirways, using a Boeing 737-400, with capacity for up to 150 passengers. Hermes Navarro, Chief of Investment Attraction for the National Tourism Board (Spanis...

WestJet CALGARY, July 20, 2015 /CNW/ - WestJet today announced it is launching new non-stop service to Florida, Mexico and Costa Rica, as well as adding more than 85 flights across its growing domestic and international network, as part of its winter 2015-2016 flight schedule. WestJet's regional airline, WestJet Encore, will also begin service three times a day to Boston, its first U.S. destin...

Washington, Jul 8 (EFE).- United Airlines said Wednesday it was forced to ground all its flights around the world due to computer problems. About 3,500 flights around the world were affected, the U.S.-based carrier said. "We experienced a network connectivity issue this morning. We are working to resolve this and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience," the airline said in a messag...

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - June 23, 2015) - JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU), the largest airline in Boston, today announced plans to enhance service at Logan International Airport as part of its long-term commitment to serve both business and leisure travelers who have made the airline the city's top carrier. As part of the expansion, JetBlue will introduce Mint, its highly acclaimed take on premium t...

Alaska Airlines SEATTLE, June 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines began selling tickets today on newly-announced routes between Los Angeles and Costa Rica's two major international airports. The eight weekly flights fromLos Angeles to San Jose (SJO) and Liberia/Guanacaste (LIR), Costa Rica, are scheduled to begin Oct. 31and Nov. 1, respectively, subject to approval by the Costa Rican civi...

Kayak screenshot on June 3, 2015 During a few weeks in June and July, low airfare hunters flock to select websites in search of travel deals to Costa Rica. Finding these deals takes a certain amount of skills and luck; to this end, joining an online community of bargain hunters will greatly help. Take, for example, the flight shown on the screenshot included in this article: Round-trip from Bo...

Source: Volaris Costa Rica is currently the subject of an invasion by budget airlines, which are fighting each other for market share in the lucrative segment of flights between North and Central American destinations. As recently reported by The Costa Rica Star: Data compiled by the Directorate of Civil Aviation in Costa Rica indicates that low-cost airlines transported 9.2 percent of 4.2 mi...

Volaris MEXICO CITY, May 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Volaris (NYSE: VLRS and BMV: VOLAR), the ultra low cost Mexican airline with the most extensive route network servicing Mexico and the US, announced today their incursion into the Costa Rica market with the launch of two new flights from Cancun, Quintana Roo and Guadalajara, Jalisco to Costa Rica's capital city, San Jose, starting on September ...

Good news for British and European travelers awaiting the new flights by Thomson Airways and First Choice to Costa Rica. According to online travel news site TravelMole.com, Thomson will soon receive four new and shiny Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, which will be used for long haul flights to select destinations, including the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica. Located in the...

Source: OVSICORI Since the early morning hours of May 18th, the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago has been in a constant state of exhalation. Geologists from the Observatory on Volcanology and Seismology of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) have detected sustained seismicity at this colossus, and many of the resulting eruptions have been broadcast and recorded with a digital camera pointed righ...

Source: SWAmedia.com Southwest Airlines® (NYSE: LUV) today extended its bookable flight schedule through Jan. 4, 2016, offering new international service between eight cities and Houston (Hobby) by the end of this year, including the carrier's 97th destination, Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport at Liberia in the Guanacaste beach and resort region of northwest Costa Rica, subject to fore...

Source: OVSICORI Geologists from the Observatory on Volcanology and Seismology of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) are closely monitoring their seismographs and other instruments located around the Turrialba volcano, located in the province of Cartago, after a series of tremors were registered during lunchtime on Monday, May 11th. At this time, the OVSICORI scientists are unable to monitor the cameras...

Source: MSP Anti-narcotics officers assigned to the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in the province of Alajuela arrested a tourist found in possession of nearly two kilograms of powdered cocaine hydrochloride. According to a press release by the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the tourist was trying to board a flight to Spain; he was arrested for attempting to ...

The Turrialba on May 5. OVSICORI On a clear Sunday morning in Costa Rica, the Turrialba volcano clouded the skies surrounding its crater with an ash and smoke eruption that started at 04:55 am and lasted until 05:45. Strong winds wafting around the surface crater did not allow the dark ash column to rise more than 200 meters in the air; however, the direction of the airstream transported volca...

Source: OVSICORI Civil aviation and airport officials in Costa Rica decided to suspend flight operations at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), located in the province of Alajuela, after a powerful afternoon eruption at the Turrialba volcano, located in the province of Cartago. Geologists from the National University's Observatory on Volcanology and Seismology of Costa Rica (Sp...

Alaska Airlines SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines will chart new territory this fall when it adds new service between Los Angeles and Costa Rica's two major international airports, further strengthening its southern California focus city. The eight weekly flights from Los Angeles to San Jose (SJO) and Liberia/Guanacaste (LIR), Costa Rica, are scheduled to begin Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 respectively, and are...

Turrialba at dawn, Source: OVSICORI Despite incandescent volcanic matter being ejected from the crater of the Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica, the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), located in the Alajuela province, resumed operations during the early hours of Friday. Officials from the Directorate of Civil Aviation and from Aeris, the management firm in charge of SJO, had shut down ...

Source: SWAmedia.com The two major international airports in Costa Rica are seeing a greater influx of passengers who arrive and depart aboard low-cost airlines. According to a report filed by Oscar Rodriguez of national newspaper La Nacion, 13 percent of the 4.4 million passengers at the Juan Santamaria and Daniel Oduber Quiros international airports flew aboard budget air carriers. Data c...

Source: Southwest Airlines ORLANDO, FL--(Marketwired - April 07, 2015) - Southwest Vacations is offering travelers a savings of up to $150 off vacation packages to select beach destinations including St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Jamaica, and Aruba. Travelers who book a flight plus hotel vacation package to select beach destinations can save on their reservation when using the promotion code B...

New Orleans International Airport. Source: Wikimedia Commons Washington, Mar 21 (EFE).- A police officer shot and wounded a man who had attacked three Transportation Security Administration workers with a machete and insecticide at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, local authorities said. The attacker, a 63-year-old taxi driver identified as Richard White who did not have a...

Source: OVSICORI Despite ongoing ash exhalations from the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago, officials from the Directorate of Civil Aviation agreed to allow flight operations to resume at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in the province of Alajuela. SJO was closed yesterday afternoon due to low visibility and heavy accumulation of volcanic ash covered the runway. ...

Source: Southwest Airlines DALLAS, March 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The People of Southwest Airlines® (NYSE: LUV) today inaugurated two international routes that brought new long-haul service for Customers using two of the carrier's growing gateways, Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Each of the new routes is longer than 2,000 mi...

Source: Aeris If you must park your vehicle at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica, please note that your parking costs recently went up by more than 100 percent. According to a report by Fabio Mena of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, the new daily parking fee increased from $14.75 to $35, and the hourly rate climbed to $2.48 from $2.14.   If you choose to...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Agents assigned to the Alajuela Regional Delegation of the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) are investigating the death of a 53-year old man who was found dead upon landing in Costa Rica. The 53-year old man has been identified as a Costel Comana, a wealthy Romanian citizen. In an institutional communique, OIJ agents provided preliminary in...

Source: Cruz Roja Costarricense James Michael Lindsay was 67 years old when he tragically passed away in Costa Rica. He was standing in line at an airline counter of the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) when he felt ill and asked for help. Red Cross rescuers on duty at SJO determined that Mr. Lindsay suffered a cardiac arrest and started basic, and later advanced, lifesaving procedu...

Source: Spirit One of the most successful discount airlines in the United States recently announced an increase in the frequency of its flights between Houston and Costa Rica starting on May 28, 2015. Earlier this year, Spirit Airlines made news when it repainted many of its aircraft in a bold and bright yellow pattern that makes their passenger jets look like big New York City taxis in the sk...

Thanks to JetBlue Airways, residents of the Greater Boston area in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can now board a flight from Logan International Airport (BOS) and in just a few hours they could find themselves enjoying the pristine beaches of Costa Rica's Gold Coast. On November 1st, JetBlue announced a strategy to connect New England residents with choice Latin American and Caribbean destinat...

The mangroves near the proposed airport. Over the next few years, the sublime and mysterious stone spheres at the Palmar Sur park indigenous park in Costa Rica will witness the construction of the Brunca Region International Airport, Costa Rica's latest effort in expanding its lucrative tourism industry. While many residents and landowners rejoiced at the news, others groaned about what they d...

Carlos Hiller hanging his artwork at the Liberia International Airport in Guanacaste Costa RicaFast, tenacious and colorful: these adjectives are subjective of course, but nonetheless describe the fundamental nature of these magnificent fish which have become icons of the sport and commercial fishing on Costa Rica's Pacific coast: sailfish, roosterfish and golden fish (Mahi-Mahi). The paintin...

The Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia (LIR), province of Guanacaste, is quickly becoming the favorite landing spot for visitors from Canada, Mexico and the United States, particularly for those whose first visit to Costa Rica involved landing at Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela (SJO) and getting to know the lovable capital city of San Jose. A closer look at the...

If you require an airport or beach transfer service in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, please contact BeachTransfer.com. They have a team of English speaking drivers ready to handle your shuttle requests. Ever since the new terminal at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia (LIR) inaugurated in January 2012, the province of Guanacaste has seen increased tourism activity and an uptick...

Related news: Bill Gates buys 6% stake in FCC through his investment funds. Madrid/London, November 6th, 2013 - FCC, the Citizens Services Group, has been chosen to reform the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela, 18 kilometers from San José (Costa Rica). FCC will construct a hangar at the country's main aeronautical facility worth 25 million euros, with a completion period of eigh...

The Daniel Oduber international airport in Liberia has become the favorite for half of Canadians traveling to Costa Rica. In the first part of the year, 44,000 travelers from Canada landed in the terminal (49% of Canadians who flew to the country during that time). Six years ago, in the same period, 35% of Canadian tourists came to Liberia. The city of Liberia has also become important for v...

Source: Flickr CC For several decades, the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica was described as a spartan, no-frills facility for air travel. It wasn't until almost the end of the 20th century that tourists and expats coming to Costa Rica started to see features that are standard in many airports around the world, such as terminals, lounges, duty-free shops, and places to...