Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Juan Santamaría International Airport (MROC/SJO) is Costa Rica's principal international gateway, lying in Alajuela Province some 20 kilometres northwest of downtown San José. A single long runway equipped with an ILS handles everything from regional turboprops to wide-body jets, making it an interesting and demanding destination for simulator pilots flying into mountainous Central American terrain.
Juan Santamaría International Airport serves the capital city of San José but is physically situated in Alajuela, Costa Rica, some 20 kilometres northwest of the city centre. It is the country's busiest airport and one of the principal hubs in Central America, handling both domestic services to destinations such as those flown by Sansa Airlines and international traffic from carriers including Avianca, Copa Airlines and United. For a simulator pilot, its single long runway, high field elevation and location amid the mountains and valleys of the Central Valley of Costa Rica make it a rewarding approach and departure to fly.
The airport lies in Alajuela Province, Costa Rica, about 20 kilometres northwest of downtown San José. It functions as the primary international aerodrome for the San José metropolitan area and sits within Costa Rican controlled airspace, with area control handled on the frequencies listed below.
Juan Santamaría has one physical runway, 07/25, of hard surface construction and lit for night operations. Runway 07 has a landing distance of 9,883 feet and is served by an ILS; Runway 25 has a landing distance of 8,258 feet. Field elevation is 2,982 feet.
Radio callsign COCO is used throughout. Area control (ACC) operates on 119.6 MHz, approach control (APP) on 120.5 MHz, a clearance delivery frequency (CLD) on 121.3 MHz, ground (GND) on 121.9 MHz, a radio (RDO) frequency on 126.8 MHz, and the tower (TWR) on 118.6 MHz. Runway 07 is equipped with an instrument landing system, supporting instrument approaches into the field.
The airport was built to replace an earlier facility in downtown San José, on the site now occupied by Parque La Sabana. Funding was secured in 1951 and construction proceeded slowly until the airport was officially inaugurated on 2 May 1958. It was initially known as Aeropuerto Internacional el Coco, after its location, and was later renamed in honour of Juan Santamaría, a Costa Rican drummer boy who died in 1856 defending the country against forces led by the American filibuster William Walker. In 1961 funding was secured for the highway linking the airport to downtown San José, and a five-year development plan drawn up in 1981 led to the construction of a new runway and the installation of approach lighting, a VOR, an ILS, DME and radar. A Concorde landed at the airport in 1999 for that year's airshow, and the field once housed a small hangar nicknamed the 'NASA' hangar, used to support research aircraft such as the Martin B-57 Canberra operating in Costa Rica.
Juan Santamaría remains Costa Rica's principal international airport and has long been the country's busiest, second in Central America only to Tocumen International Airport in Panama. It serves as a hub for Avianca Costa Rica, Costa Rica Green Airways, Sansa Airlines and Volaris Costa Rica, and as a focus city for Avianca El Salvador and Copa Airlines. The single runway is capable of handling wide-body aircraft, with scheduled services operated using types including the Airbus A330, A340 and A350 and the Boeing 747, 767, 777 and 787.