Juan Santamaría International Airport ( Spanish : Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría ) ( IATA : SJO , ICAO : MROC ) is the primary airport serving San José , the capital of Costa Rica . The airport is located in Alajuela Province , 20 kilometres (12 mi; 11 nmi) northwest of downtown San José. It is named after Costa Rica's national hero, Juan Santamaría , a drummer boy who died in 1856 defending his country against forces led by William Walker , an American filibuster . It is the biggest and busiest airport in Costa Rica and second in Central America with more than 5 million passengers per year before COVID.
55-582: The airport is a hub for Avianca Costa Rica , Costa Rica Green Airways , Sansa Airlines , and Volaris Costa Rica and a focus city for Avianca El Salvador and Copa Airlines . It was the country's only international gateway for many years, before the opening of the international airport in Liberia, Guanacaste . Both airports have direct flights to North and Central America and Europe, but Juan Santamaría International Airport also serves cities in South America and
110-475: A seamless global air traffic management system. ICAO has published standards for machine-readable passports . Machine-readable passports have an area where some of the information otherwise written in textual form is also written as strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for optical character recognition , which enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process such passports more quickly without having to enter
165-473: A direct party to ICAO, its government delegated Switzerland to enter into the treaty on its behalf, and the treaty is applicable in the territory of Liechtenstein. The Republic of China was a founding member of ICAO. Following its retreat to Taiwan , it was eventually replaced by the People's Republic of China as the legal representative of China in 1971. In 2013, Taiwan was for the first time invited to attend
220-634: A model of the standard variation of pressure , temperature , density , and viscosity with altitude in the Earth's atmosphere . This is useful in calibrating instruments and designing aircraft. The standardized pressure is also used in calibrating instruments in-flight, particularly above the transition altitude . ICAO is active in infrastructure management, including communication, navigation and surveillance / air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems, which employ digital technologies (like satellite systems with various levels of automation) in order to maintain
275-567: A strictly operational and non-political point of view, I believe Taiwan should be there." The ICAO Council is elected by the Assembly every three years and consists of 36 members elected in three groups. The present council was elected in October 2022. The structure of the present Council is as follows: The Air Navigation Commission (ANC) is the ICAO Council technical executive body in charge of 17 of
330-453: A tweet stating that publishers of "irrelevant, compromising and offensive material" would be "precluded". Since that action, the organization has followed a policy of blocking anyone asking about it. The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs harshly criticized ICAO's perceived failure to uphold principles of fairness, inclusion, and transparency by silencing non-disruptive opposing voices. Senator Marco Rubio also criticized
385-404: Is PAMR.) Not all airports are assigned codes in both systems; for example, airports that do not have airline service do not need an IATA code. ICAO also assigns three-letter airline codes versus the more-familiar two-letter IATA codes—for example, UAL vs. UA for United Airlines . ICAO also provides telephony designators to aircraft operators worldwide, a one- or two-word designator used on
440-717: Is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. The ICAO headquarters are located in the Quartier international de Montréal of Montreal , Quebec, Canada. The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation, its infrastructure, flight inspection , prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation . ICAO defines
495-775: Is pressing ahead with its plans to include aviation. ICAO has been called "flawed and biased in favour of the industry" by Jo Dardenne, the manager for aviation at Transport & Environment . On 6 October 2016, the ICAO finalized an agreement among its 191 member nations to address the more than 1000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted annually by international passenger and cargo flights. The agreement will use an offsetting scheme called CORSIA (the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) under which forestry and other carbon-reducing activities are directly funded, amounting to about 2% of annual revenues for
550-684: Is the largest and busiest airport in Costa Rica, having experienced a constant increase in traffic since its opening in 1958, boosted by the growing flow of tourists . The airport reached more than one million passengers per year for the first time in 1991 and having a record number of passengers in 2023. Traffic movements and freight (in metric tons) also reached a peak in 2023. [REDACTED] Media related to Juan Santamaría International Airport at Wikimedia Commons Avianca Costa Rica Avianca Costa Rica S.A. , using callsign as LACSA ( Spanish: Lineas Aéreas Costarricenses S.A. ), minority owned by
605-543: The Boeing 747 -100, -200 and -300 are given the type designators B741 , B742 and B743 respectively. Since 2010, ICAO recommends a unification of units of measurement within aviation based on the International System of Units (SI), using: Non-SI units have been permitted for temporary use since 1979, but a termination date has not yet been established, which would complete metrication of worldwide aviation, and
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#1732852289674660-838: The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association representing airlines ; the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), an organization for air navigation service providers (ANSPs); and the Airports Council International , a trade association of airport authorities . In addition there are several regional civil aviation commissions, such as the Latin America Civil Aviation Commission (LACAC) who focus on challenges and growth in specific regions. The forerunner to ICAO
715-793: The Synergy Group , is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José . It operates international scheduled services to over 35 destinations in Central, North and South America. The airline previously used the TACA/LACSA moniker when it was a subsidiary of Grupo TACA . Since May 2013, following Avianca's purchase of Grupo TACA, Avianca Costa Rica became one of seven nationally branded airlines ( Avianca Ecuador , Avianca El Salvador , etc.) operated by Avianca Group of Latin American airlines. LACSA
770-539: The 19 Annexes to the Chicago Convention. ANC develops and recommend ICAO minimal standards that are related to these Annexes. To review and/or finalize the ongoing developments the commission meets for three sessions per year. Each session normally considers a number of documents being developments of ANC expert Panels. The ANC is composed of nineteen commissioners nominated by ICAO States in various aviation domains. However, legally these commissioners do not represent
825-406: The 2020 level, allowing unregulated growth until then. Only 65 nations will participate in the initial voluntary period, not including significant emitters Russia, India and perhaps Brazil. The agreement does not cover domestic emissions, which are 40% of the global industry's overall emissions. One observer of the ICAO convention made this summary: Airline claims that flying will now be green are
880-575: The Airbus A350-900XWB (especially in European winter season). No major changes were made to the terminal until November 1997 when the government issued a decree requesting participation of private companies to manage the operations of the airport. After a few years of legal challenges and contract negotiations, Alterra Partners was given a 20-year concession and started managing the facilities in May 2001. It
935-569: The Caribbean. Juan Santamaría International Airport was once the busiest airport in Central America , but is currently second after Tocumen International Airport in Panama . In 2022, Juan Santamaría International Airport received 5 million passengers (international and domestic). The airport was built to replace the previous one in downtown San Jose where Parque La Sabana is located today. Funding
990-469: The Chicago Convention, in Chicago , was signed by 52 countries on 7 December 1944. Under its terms, a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization was to be established, to be replaced in turn by a permanent organization when twenty-six countries ratified the convention. PICAO began operating on 6 June 1945, replacing ICAN. The 26th country ratified the convention on 5 March 1947 and, consequently, PICAO
1045-734: The Convention on International Civil Aviation. Altitude, elevation, height. ICAO has a headquarters, seven regional offices, and one regional sub-office: Emissions from international aviation are specifically excluded from the targets agreed under the Kyoto Protocol . Instead, the Protocol invites developed countries to pursue the limitation or reduction of emissions through the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO's environmental committee continues to consider
1100-561: The ICAO Assembly, at its 38th session, as a guest under the name of " Chinese Taipei ". As of September 2019 , it has not been invited to participate again, due to renewed PRC pressure. The host government, Canada , supports Taiwan's inclusion in ICAO. Support also comes from Canada's commercial sector with the president of the Air Transport Association of Canada saying in 2019 that "It's about safety in aviation so from
1155-636: The ICAO code for Los Angeles International Airport is KLAX. Canada follows a similar pattern, where a prefix of C is usually added to an IATA code to create the ICAO code. For example, Calgary International Airport is YYC or CYYC. (In contrast, airports in Hawaii are in the Pacific region and so have ICAO codes that start with PH ; Kona International Airport 's code is PHKO. Similarly, airports in Alaska have ICAO codes that start with PA . Merrill Field , for instance
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#17328522896741210-483: The ICAO triennial conference to Doha was defeated by a vote of 22–14. In January 2020, ICAO blocked several Twitter users, including think-tank analysts, U.S. Congressional staff, and journalists, who mentioned Taiwan in tweets related to ICAO. Many of the tweets were related to the COVID-19 pandemic and Taiwan's exclusion from ICAO safety and health bulletins due to pressure from China . In response, ICAO issued
1265-652: The International Flight Network, Philbin refused to acknowledge the existence of Taiwan. On 1 February 2020, the United States Department of State issued a press release heavily criticizing ICAO's actions, characterizing them as "outrageous, unacceptable, and not befitting of a UN organization." The 9th edition of the Convention on International Civil Aviation includes modifications from years 1948 up to 2006. ICAO refers to its current edition of
1320-624: The Kyoto targets agreed by countries. This has led to some national policies such as fuel and emission taxes for domestic air travel in the Netherlands and Norway , respectively. Although some countries tax the fuel used by domestic aviation, there is no duty on kerosene used on international flights. ICAO is currently opposed to the inclusion of aviation in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The EU , however,
1375-714: The US, FAA practices require the digits of the flight number to be spoken in group format ("Japan Air One Eleven" in the above example) while individual digits are used for the aircraft tail number used for unscheduled civil flights. ICAO maintains the standards for aircraft registration , including the alphanumeric codes that identify the country of registration. ICAO is also responsible for issuing two to four character alphanumeric aircraft type designators for those aircraft types which are most commonly provided with air traffic service. These codes provide an abbreviated aircraft type identification, typically used in flight plans . For example,
1430-761: The airline industry, such as the Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS). This makes it a standards organization . Each country should have an accessible Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), based on standards defined by ICAO, containing information essential to air navigation . Countries are required to update their AIP manuals every 28 days and so provide definitive regulations, procedures and information for each country about airspace and airports. ICAO's standards also dictate that temporary hazards to aircraft must be regularly published using NOTAMs . ICAO defines an International Standard Atmosphere (also known as ICAO Standard Atmosphere),
1485-473: The airlines began operating as a single commercial brand using the Avianca name. Avianca Costa Rica serves the following destinations: According to the May 31, 1973 LACSA system timetable, the airline was serving the following international destinations: This same timetable states that all international flights were being operated with British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets at this time with
1540-466: The airport did not comply with safety regulations. In July 2009, Alterra yielded the contract to a consortium composed of Houston-based Canadian-American company ADC & HAS and the Brazilian company, Andrade Gutierrez Concessoes (AGC)—subsidiary of the conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez. In December 2009, Alterra Partners changed its name to AERIS Holdings, S.A. In November 2010, Aeris announced it had finished
1595-526: The airport had a small hangar, called the " NASA " hangar, to house research aircraft, like the Martin B-57 Canberra high-altitude aircraft, that were being operated in Costa Rica. After that mission was completed, the hangar was removed. Internationally, the largest operator in the airport is Avianca and all their branches, followed by Copa Airlines which uses the Main Terminal (M). Domestically
1650-474: The airport is on an exit at Route 1, and near the exit to Alajuela. There is a parking area with surcharge, plus a bus stop with plenty of services to San Jose downtown (with no exact schedule but with 24-hour bus service and approximately one service every 10 minutes during working hours). Licensed taxis are available in the airport and will generally accept both colónes and U.S. dollars , but not other currencies. Costa Rican taxis are red with yellow triangles on
1705-454: The code LFPO (the 3rd letter sometimes refers to the particular flight information region (FIR) or the last two may be arbitrary). In most parts of the world, ICAO and IATA codes are unrelated; for example, Charles de Gaulle Airport has an IATA code of CDG. However, the location prefix for the continental United States is K , and ICAO codes are usually the IATA code with this prefix. For example,
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1760-518: The convention as the Statute and designates it as ICAO Document 7300/9. The convention has 19 Annexes that are listed by title in the article Convention on International Civil Aviation . As of April 2019 , there are 193 ICAO members, consisting of 192 of the 193 UN members (all but Liechtenstein , which lacks an international airport), plus the Cook Islands . Despite Liechtenstein not being
1815-506: The deal was mixed. The agreement has critics. It is not aligned with the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which set the objective of restricting global warming to 1.5 to 2 °C. A late draft of the agreement would have required the air transport industry to assess its share of global carbon budgeting to meet that objective, but the text was removed in the agreed version. CORSIA will regulate only about 25 percent of aviation's international emissions, since it grandfathers all emissions below
1870-485: The direction of the ANC through the formal process of ICAO Panels. Once approved by the commission, standards are sent to the council, the political body of ICAO, for consultation and coordination with the member states before final adoption. ICAO is distinct from other international air transport organizations, particularly because it alone is vested with international authority (among signatory states): other organizations include
1925-649: The doors, ubiquitous all over the country, plus there is a special airport taxi service that is licensed and employs orange taxis. While the rail line linking downtown Alajuela with San José's Atlantic Station passes in close proximity to the airport, there is no station serving the airport and no rail service of any kind to the airport. The airport's sole runway allows operations of large wide-body aircraft. Currently, some scheduled flights are operated with Airbus A330 , A340 and A350 , and Boeing 747 , 767 , 777 and 787 , for both passengers and freight. A Concorde landed in 1999 for that year's airshow. Previously,
1980-668: The exception of the San José-San Andres Island route which was being flown with a Convair 440 propliner. The airline was operating to such international destinations in 1984 as: These cities were flown to using LACSA’s Boeing 727. As of June 2024 , Avianca Costa Rica operates the following aircraft: LACSA operated the following aircraft: [REDACTED] Media related to Avianca Costa Rica at Wikimedia Commons International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO / ˌ aɪ ˈ k eɪ oʊ / eye- KAY -oh )
2035-426: The expansion and construction of new facilities with the installation of the 9th boarding bridge . The airport houses three business lounges for both special card holders and business class travellers; Avianca Club, Copa Club and VIP Lounge (for BAC Credomatic customers). The following airlines have scheduled direct services to and/or from Juan Santamaría International Airport: Juan Santamaria International Airport
2090-696: The first of their BAC One-Eleven twin-engined jet airliners onto their Caribbean passenger route network in April 1967. The airline also operated a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands , Cayman Brac Airways (CBA) Ltd., which it sold a 51% controlling interest in the late 1960s to the Cayman Islands government, which in turn used the air carrier to form Cayman Airways . LACSA served Grand Cayman for many years as an intermediate stop on its services between San José, Costa Rica and Miami. Beginning in 1998, TACA/LACSA
2145-1150: The following units are still in widespread use within commercial aviation: inches of mercury are used in Japan and North America to measure pressure, although sometimes METAR at Japanese airports show only hPa . Aviation in Russia and China currently use km/h for reporting airspeed, and many present-day European glider planes also indicate airspeed in kilometres per hour. China and North Korea use metres for reporting altitude when communicating with pilots. Russia also formerly used metres exclusively for reporting altitude, but in 2011 changed to feet for high altitude flight. From February 2017, Russian airspace started transitioning to reporting altitude in feet only. Runway lengths are now commonly given in metres worldwide, except in North America where feet are commonly used. The following table summarizes units commonly used in flight and ground operations and their recommended replacement. A full list of recommended units can be found in annex 5 to
2200-493: The information manually into a computer. ICAO's technical standard for machine-readable passports is contained in Document 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents . A more recent standard covers biometric passports . These contain biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers. The passport's critical information is stored on a tiny RFID computer chip, much like information stored on smart cards . Like some smart cards,
2255-401: The interest of their State or any particular State or region. They have to conduct independently in the interest of the entire international civil aviation community. Additionally, several other representatives from ICAO States and up to eight members from the civil aviation industry may be invited to take part in ANC meetings as observers. ICAO also standardizes certain functions for use in
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2310-513: The largest airline is Sansa Airlines , and their flights depart from the Domestic Terminal (D). The largest US airlines at the airport by number of destinations served all year long are jetBlue and United Airlines , and the largest European airline at the airport is Iberia which is the only European airline that flies daily all year long between Europe and San José from their base at Madrid airport using an Airbus A330-200 combined with
2365-549: The move. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan) (MOFA) and Taiwanese legislators criticized the move with MOFA head Jaushieh Joseph Wu tweeting in support of those blocked. In January 2020, Anthony Philbin, Chief of Communications for the ICAO Secretary General, defended ICAO's actions, stating, 'We felt completely justified in taking steps to protect the integrity of the information and discussions that our followers reasonably expect from our feeds.' In exchanges with
2420-540: The passport book design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data. Both ICAO and IATA have their own airport and airline code systems. ICAO uses 4-letter airport codes (vs. IATA's 3-letter codes ). The ICAO code is based on the region and country of the airport—for example, Charles de Gaulle Airport has an ICAO code of LFPG, where L indicates Southern Europe, F , France, PG , Paris de Gaulle, while Orly Airport has
2475-405: The potential for using market-based measures such as trading and charging, but this work is unlikely to lead to global action. It is currently developing guidance for states who wish to include aviation in an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to meet their Kyoto commitments, and for airlines who wish to participate voluntarily in a trading scheme. Emissions from domestic aviation are included within
2530-583: The protocols for air accident investigation that are followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation . The Air Navigation Commission (ANC) is the technical body within ICAO. The commission is composed of 19 commissioners, nominated by the ICAO's contracting states and appointed by the ICAO Council. Commissioners serve as independent experts, who although nominated by their states, do not serve as state or political representatives. International Standards and Recommended Practices are developed under
2585-457: The radio, usually, but not always, similar to the aircraft operator name. For example, the identifier for Japan Airlines International is JAL and the designator is Japan Air , but Aer Lingus is EIN and Shamrock . Thus, a Japan Airlines flight numbered 111 would be written as "JAL111" and pronounced "Japan Air One One One" on the radio, while a similarly numbered Aer Lingus would be written as "EIN111" and pronounced "Shamrock One One One". In
2640-414: The sector. Rules against 'double counting' should ensure that existing forest protection efforts are not recycled. The scheme did not take effect until 2021 and will be voluntary until 2027, but many countries, including the US and China, have promised to begin at its 2020 inception date. Under the agreement, the global aviation emissions target is a 50% reduction by 2050 relative to 2005. NGO reaction to
2695-558: Was also expected that the company would finish the necessary expansion and construction of new facilities; however, in March 2002, Alterra announced it would cease any further construction due to disagreements over financing and airport use fee billing with the government. The dispute was extended for a few years and problems started at the terminal; in 2005, the International Civil Aviation Organization pointed out that
2750-531: Was disestablished on 4 April 1947 and replaced by ICAO, which began operations the same day. In October 1947, ICAO became an agency of the United Nations under its Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In April 2013, Qatar offered to serve as the new permanent seat of the Organization. Qatar promised to construct a massive new headquarters for ICAO and to cover all moving expenses, stating that Montreal "was too far from Europe and Asia", "had cold winters",
2805-584: Was formed on October 17, 1945, with the help of Pan American World Airways , and started operations on June 1, 1946, using Douglas DC-3s for local services within Costa Rica, operating as an affiliate of Pan Am. The airline was designated as Costa Rica's Flag carrier in 1949 and was nationalized in 1958. LACSA operated the Douglas DC-6B four-engined piston airliner from 1960 until 1976 on their regular passenger, and eventually freight, scheduled flights to Miami International Airport. The airline introduced
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#17328522896742860-473: Was hard to attend due to the Canadian government's slow issuance of visas, and that the taxes imposed on ICAO by Canada were too high. According to The Globe and Mail , Qatar's invitation was at least partly motivated by the pro-Israel foreign policy of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper . Approximately a month later, Qatar withdrew its bid after a separate proposal to the ICAO's governing council to move
2915-580: Was one of the member airlines comprising the TACA Airlines alliance along with Aviateca , Nica, Isleña Airlines , and five other regional airlines. In 2008, a new fleet of Embraer 190 jets was introduced. Also in 2008 a new TACA logo was introduced, followed by a new fleet of Embraer 190 airplanes registered in Costa Rica and operated under the LACSA code. In October 2009, Avianca and TACA announced their merger plans to be completed in 2010. By May 28, 2013,
2970-428: Was secured by the government in 1951 and construction proceeded slowly until the airport was officially inaugurated on May 2, 1958. It was initially called "Aeropuerto Internacional el Coco" after its location of the same name in the province of Alajuela . It was later renamed in honor of Juan Santamaría . In 1961, funding was secured to build the highway connecting the airport to downtown San José . The road access to
3025-708: Was the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN). It held its first convention in 1903 in Berlin , Germany , but no agreements were reached among the eight countries that attended. At the second convention in 1906, also held in Berlin, twenty-seven countries attended. The third convention, held in London in 1912, allocated the first radio callsigns for use by aircraft. ICAN continued to operate until 1945. The Convention on International Civil Aviation , also known as
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