Raggiungere il Costa Rica dall'Italia non è cosa estremamente facile in quanto non esistono collegamenti diretti, ma grazie ad alcune compagnie statunitensi ed europee si può percorrere la tratta facendo scalo nelle capitali di appartenenza dell'aerolinea, e in alcune circostanze come vedremo anche più di uno. Nel nostro caso avendo utilizzato la compagnia spagnola Iberia il tragitto è stato Milano Linate - Madrid - Miami - San Josè di Costa Rica, per una durata effettiva di 14 ore di volo più qualche ora di sosta nei vari scali, sicuramente pesante ma molto interessante.
Come già detto in precedenza l'arrivo nel paese avviene sull'aeroporto intercontinentale di San Josè usufruendo di voli regolari, mentre utilizzando voli charter è possibile giungere a Liberia, il secondo aeroporto intercontinentale della nazione.
Il sistema aeroportuale comprende inoltre una serie di infrastrutture usate esclusivamente da aerolinee interne come la Sansa, la Travelair e la Aero Costa Sol, oppure da velivoli privati, queste aviosuperfici sono per tutte piste in terra battuta, quindi utilizzabili solo con aerei specifici adatti per questa tipologia di operazioni.

English translation by Dario Cocco

Costa Rica is defined by many as the "Switzerland" of Central America. This tropical nation is bordered by Nicaragua to the North to the Southeast with Panama; its coasts overlook to the Northeast the Caribbean Sea, to the West the Pacific Ocean.
The country from the morphological point of view is extremely diverse despite its small size, the extension of a little over 51,000 square kilometers, just about Piedmont and Lombardy regions combined, which contain a great variety of natural habitats that give a wealth of flora and fauna unique, and this is a sort of magnet for nature lovers from all over the world, the last official figure of 1993 has encountered an influx of some 700,000 foreigners, twice than just five years earlier.
Getting to Costa Rica from Italy is not extremely easy as there are no direct flighs, but thanks to some U.S. and European airlines with one stopover in the chosen airline hub it is possible to reach this destination, in some circumstances, as we will see, even with more than one. In our case, having flown with the Spanish airline Iberia routing has been Milan Linate - Madrid - Miami - San Jose of Costa Rica, for a total of 14 hours of actual flight time to be added to the time spent on the ground at the airports, definitely heavy but very interesting.
As mentioned earlier, the arrival is in the country's intercontinental airport at San Jose if using scheduled flights, while some charter flights land in Liberia, the nation's second international airport.
The airport system also includes a number of facilities used exclusively by domestic airlines such as Sansa, Travelair and Aero Costa Sol, or by private aircraft, these airfields all have dirt runways, then usable only by specific aircraft suitable for this type of operations.
The airport of the capital San Jose, named after national hero Juan Santamaria, is located in the central valley at an altitude of 1,000 meters above sea level, just 17 km from the capital’s center and is the most important on the country, with its two and a half million passengers a year, also guarantees the use of air transport to 37% of the total population residing in the city and its suburbs.
Designed to replace the old airport of La Sabana, the construction of the new airport began in 1952, and saw its opening in late 1955 with the arrival of the first international flight operated by Pan American Airlines and Taca, using Convair 340 aircraft, but only in 1958, President José Figueres inaugurated the building used as a terminal to replace a temporary building thus concluding the work. In 1962 it entered the jet era with the landing of a Pan American DC 8, hence it raised the need to extend the length of the runway to the current 3,012 meters with a width of 46 meters, and install approach systems VOR ILS integrating an existing light system VISTA.
The modern airport facilities, governed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, directly dependent from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, is composed as follows: the central body of the airport of the air terminal is on three levels, ground floor check-in, bank, information office, customs and baggage claim area. On the 1st floor boarding area, restaurants, shops and offices of companies, while the 2nd floor is for the exclusive use of the administrative offices. The embarkation and disembarkation of passengers takes place exclusively with the use of six fingers, will soon be completed with the construction of four new piers in the current cargo area to the East of the airport.
The most representative commercial airlines that make regular flights to Juan Santamaria are: KLM, LTU, United, American, Continental, Copa, Aviateca, SAM Colombia, Cubana, Mexicana, Aeronica, Taca, Iberia, and of course the only two Costa Rican companies, Lacsa and Aero Costa Rica.
As I mentioned earlier the area to the East is occupied by the cargo center with buildings quite dilapidated but that will soon make way for the expansion of the passenger terminal; cargo traffic in San Jose is intense with an average of 4/5 flights each day mainly from the United States operated by American, Arrow Air, Kalitta Air, Fine Air, Trans Continental, Emery Worldwide, DHL, Challenge, almost all companies use Dc 8s, while from Colombia Aerosucre and Lineas Aereas Suramericanas still use the Caravelles converted into freighters. The only European carrier that transports goods with all-cargo flights at the airport is Martinair Holland, which uses a brand new MD 11F.
Despite the excellent features of the airport, not far away it has been built, and recently completed, a terminal used only during the peak high season to cater the arrival of charter flights, which, for the remaining period of the year, remains unused .
Continuing to the West we find the Bomberos (Fire) station and adjacent the technical area and base of operations of the airline Lacsa and its subsidiary Sansa, the reserved space is very limited and not having hangars available all the jobs are done in the open, while a very different situation occurs for the next zone, home of COOPESA "Cooperativa de Servicios Industriales Aero", an industrial town in the field of aeronautics, as well as FAA certified repair station, and as pointed out by the Work Manager Luis Villalobos is distinguished by the high-quality technical training. The area occupied by COOPESA includes a large apron and two hangars of considerable size plus a building of more recent construction used for the machining of composite materials. The main activities involving about 700 workers are line maintenance, changes in cabin systems, painting, converting passenger aircraft into freighters and finally the modification of engines on B727 aircraft to cope with Stage III rules, with an average of 5/6 aircraft delivered each month, mostly from American companies; while this is a remarkable achievement it does not yet meet the leadership planning that envisages further expansion with the construction of new hangars.
The number of facilities is completed with the area used by the local Civil Guard which is dealt specifically in another report.
Tobias Bolanos Palma Airport located in Pavas, only 4 km from the capital San Jose, is the second airfield of the city and hosts of the local flying club in addition of being the base of operations of Travelair, a company that makes regular flights with Islander and Trislander aircraft to the major resorts of the country. Also find their place here a multitude of smaller private companies and other which perform agricultural duites with the ubiquitous Dromader.
Driven by an association of Costa Rican pilots (UPAC) to bring citizens closer to the world of aviation, and to conduct social activities in this field, after four years of work the airport was inaugurated in 1975, including all infrastructures, terminal, control tower, hangars, meteorological station, a 1,000 meters long and 18 meters wide runway oriented 09/27, plus a range of services such as customs and immigration office, in case there was a need to receive from aircraft from abroad would be completely autonomous.
Daniel Oduber Quiros Airport, the second and last of the country, named after a former president of the republic, is located Northwest of the country on the Pacific coast where most of the hotel infrastructure are situated, not very far from the border with Nicaragua. It is located 27 km from the beautiful city of Liberia from which takes its name, as well as the regional capital of Guanacaste. It's also called by many the airport of the future as opposed to that of San Jose now strangled by urbanization preventing any possibility of expansion; this is located in an area completely free and especially enjoys excellent climatic conditions having regard to the distance from the mountains, which at these latitudes are the cause of almost daily thunderstorms mainly in the rainy season.
The inauguration of the airport dates back to November 1995 and its structure is composed of the terminal divided into two sections, the classical one where all the routine activities of the airport are carried out and home to various administrative offices, plus a very impressive building made of wood and covered with palm leaves used as a waiting room. The runway is 2,750 meters long and 45 wide, oriented 05/25 and connected to an apron that can accommodate three medium-sized aircraft; the service area not far from the terminal (fire station, control tower, fuel storage) completes the airport system. The only short-term project is the expansion of the apron by taking advantage of the area still used as a fuel depot, which in turn will be moved about a mile from the current position.
Despite the large potential for development of the airport, the modern traffic that frequents the airport is very scarce, to make the idea a few figures for last year saw an average of 1,500 passengers per month for a total of 35 flights per month including private flights. Domestic flights to San Jose are operated by Lacsa while Travelair and Sansa connect with the touristic resorts. Other routes are flown exclusively from abroad: Air Comet from Madrid makes a stopover in Liberia before proceeding to the Dominican Republic, this service is only available from June to October, from United States American Trans Air flies from November to March, Aviacsa from Mexico during the months of June and July, then from Canada Canada 3000 in April, and from November to February, with a weekly service.
Certainly the optimism of the directors about the increase of traffic is forecast by moving some flights from San Jose.
The opportunity to visit the airports in Costa Rica gave us a pleasant surprise, we found that the local population shows a great interest for aviation, we marveled at seeing a large number of people who literally cling to the fences to follow the airport activities whatever the weather! Whole families and people belonging to every social class stop, every day and especially on weekends, at the end of the runways to see delighted aircraft taking-off and landing, amazed by the gracefulness of these rulers of the sky. Even in Western countries these situations occur, although air travel is now an integral part of daily life, or perhaps because of the excessive familiarity loses sight of the actual grandeur of the aviation and the magnitude of human intelligence.