The Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport in Liberia has been focused on in the news in recent months. The two main reasons are related to infrastructure work. On the one hand, the controversial inclusion of the runway’s repair in the emergency fund for Tropical Storm Bonnie, awarded to the company MECO for ¢21.800 million (about $42 million). The work was put on hold recently for three months after MECO requested a modification in the agreed work plan.
And, on the other hand, due to progress on the future construction of a general terminal, which will be focused mainly on attracting more private jets to land in Guanacaste.
A few weeks ago, in an edition of our biweekly newsletter, we updated our community on information about the airport and asked our readers what other things they would like to know about its operation. We received several questions and, to bring you the answers, we requested an interview with César Jaramillo, the manager of Coriport, which holds the airport’s concession.
We spoke with him a few days before they announced opening the competition to award the design, construction and operation of the terminal for jets. According to figures from 2021 and 2022 (the most recent that we’ve had access to), about 100 private flights arrive at the Guanacaste Airport per month.
Although at one point, Coriport estimated that $1.5 million was needed for the private jet terminal project, now the outlook is uncertain. “It could be $3 million; it could be $1 million, because now it’s going to depend on what they offer us,” Jaramillo said in the interview.
Coriport is moving forward with the bidding process for a project that will extend over an area of up to 2,403 square meters (25,865 square feet) and, at the same time, is awaiting another key step from the General Administration of Civil Aviation: the conceptual approval of the project.
“While [they approve it], we’re doing this international competition. We’ll receive the different offers, we’ll see which one is the most convenient. And on that basis and the conceptual approval, we’ll ask for a definitive approval,” he added.
Below is the interview with César Jaramillo, edited only for length and accuracy.
The Voice: At the beginning of 2024, the proposal for the general aviation terminal was awaiting approval by the Civil Aviation Technical Council and the Aeronautical Administration’s Project Management. What stage is it at now? Do you continue to project the value at $1.5 million?
César Jaramillo: [We still] need conceptual approval. The most important point for us is to carry out a national and international competition for this general aviation terminal. That’s how it’s said technically, but basically, of the entire general aviation market, we’re focused on executive jets. And what’s the value? Well, it will depend on the services offered there. We have thought of a certain size, but the service providers could think of something bigger or smaller. That’s part of the competition.
The Voice: Wasn’t it necessary to wait for conceptual permission from the General Administration of Civil Aviation to put out the request for bids?
César Jaramillo: No, it isn’t necessary, but it is necessary that the permit is in place to assign to whoever won. We’re saving time because it has been a very long process.
The Voice: Has it taken longer than you thought? How long has the process been under review?
César: Yes, [it has taken longer than expected]. I would say that starting in 2022. But we’ve been talking about this all our lives, since we started in 2012.
The Voice: What’s the volume with the conditions you have at the moment and how much could it increase with this terminal?
César Jaramillo: I could tell you that… We don’t have the planes that we could have or the passengers. In other words, they are a submultiple of what we could have. Hence the importance of expanding capacities. What we’ve experienced in these last two years is that there are many who have arrived. And we have to be forced in the matter of aircraft that land and leave. The other thing you should know is that they don’t come uniformly, neither in the day, nor in the hour, nor in the month. Probably in the case of Costa Rica, it’s not only related to tourism. It could have to do with real estate investments, with houses and with business.
César Jaramillo is the manager of Coriport, which holds the concession for the Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport, located in Liberia. He spoke with The Voice about current plans and challenges to strengthen the airport.
The Voice: Another question from our community is why airlines like Air France, Lufthansa or British Airways don’t triangulate with Liberia as Edelweiss and KLM currently do.
César Jaramillo: The markets must mature. The success we have had in all these years, focused on North America, has begun to bear some fruit in Europe. I’ve participated in that work of convincing them to cross the Atlantic, that they’re not going to lose money, that things will go well for them, of making contacts with hotels, but these things don’t happen overnight. For example, the work with KLM lasted seven, eight years. We have KLM. We have Edelweiss, which is part of the Lufthansa group. We have Tui, which travels to England. The door has already been opened to bring in others but there have to be some conditions… At this moment, the most important thing is the runway condition, because they are much larger planes. Instead of 150, 180 passengers on a dreamliner, these wide-body planes carry 300, 330 passengers. It’s a matter of evolution. It’s not that anyone has lacked willingness.
The Voice: Do you plan to get away from the North American and European focus soon?
César Jaramillo: Look, yes. But many people think it’s easy to come and say, “Well, bring me a plane, I don’t know, from Cairo or who knows where, right?” Many times, you don’t need to bring the plane from there, but what you need is good connectivity. In other words, you can get to one side and from that side, connect to here. So, in that aspect, we’re already well connected with the Middle East and with Asia. By having [routes to] these large airports like New York, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles, there are already very good connections to Asia. They even tell me that some [passengers] from Japan or Korea arrive via Houston. The other thing that interests us a lot is the connection to the south.
The Voice: To South America?
César Jaramillo: Yes, it’s another separate market and it can bring many advantages to Guanacaste, right? We’re trying. They don’t travel during the same seasons as North Americans. They have other customs that we like. They like to see how Costa Rican grilling is done. They have their own ways of grilling beef and they like to learn from one’s own. In other words, they are experiential, cultural subjects, which are what give pleasure to life.
The Voice: What would be the possible first destinations?
César Jaramillo: Well, we’ve always thought about Panama, because Panama was a flight that we had before the pandemic and with all of the successes we’ve had, we have not managed to recover it.
The Voice: Why?
César Jaramillo: There are difficulties that I prefer not to talk about because they have to do with us and with the other side of the equation. And rather, I’m trying to build here, right? I think there’s a lot of interest on both sides for this to happen, but there are also difficulties. We’re trying to solve these difficulties and have a good connection with the entire South American subcontinent.
The Voice: One issue that has been discussed is the small number of boarding bridges at the airport. How are you working on that? Are people achieving optimal descents by airplanes and how are you trying to improve that part?
César Jaramillo: We have four jetways or boarding bridges at the airport, and we have eight and sometimes nine total positions. That means we have four or five positions that don’t have a bridge. The bridges are from the public sector, and the intention to have more is something we’re willing to collaborate on.
We have procedures so that everyone can board and disembark safely and easily. So under normal conditions, it should be the same. When is it not the same? Well, when it rains a lot, September and October. And the bridges are enough for everyone in the low season. In high season and at peak times, that’s not possible because there are only four bridges and there are nine positions.
The Voice: One of your requests from at least three years ago is that the airport operate 24/7. Is there any progress on that possibility?
César Jaramillo: We are very interested in continuous operation, because that way the country is guaranteed a safe arrival both in San José and here, but the go-ahead has to be given today so that something good happens in ten months, a year. It’s not fast. Why? Because we have to train and hire air traffic controllers, train and hire airport firefighters who are specialized, air surveillance police, immigration police, customs officers.
The Voice: And as for modernization, what possibility do you have of setting up automated immigration control?
César Jaramillo: It’s a government decision that we move forward on this. The plan that is being carried out at Santa María is very good. It’s called “phase one.” It has a lot to do with passengers who are Costa Rican or residents. What we want is to advance in what is called phase two, because we don’t have many passengers who are Costa Rican or residents. We need to run with “phase two” due to the possibility of making the work of immigration officers more productive, because then the passengers are processed through the e-gates and the entire scrutiny process of police verification remains to see who enters and who does not. In other words, it doesn’t reduce security, it just increases speed.
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