After a chaotic morning, airport personnel announced the reopening of Costa Rican Airports. All flights had been grounded since early morning due to an electrical failure in the radar system. A total of 4,580 passengers were affected by the suspension of operations at Juan Santamaría International Airport.
This was confirmed by Aeris, the airport terminal operator, after the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) announced that the problem had been resolved at around 10:54 a.m. on Wednesday.
According to data provided by Aeris, 64 commercial flights, 65 domestic flights, and eight cargo flights were interrupted due to the situation. Before 11 a.m., personnel at Juan Santamaría International Airport confirmed that operations were resuming.
“Aeris reports that operations at Juan Santamaría Airport have been restored and will gradually resume starting at 10:40 a.m.,” explained the terminal administration. Meanwhile, Lizeth Valverde, operations manager at Guanacaste Airport, reported that the radar was restored at 10:36 a.m., and normal operations resumed.
At this airport, only Alaska Airlines flight AS1372 from Los Angeles, USA, with 140 passengers, was affected. The following scheduled flights for the day are expected to depart starting at 11:44 a.m.
“Guanacaste Airport is keeping the terminal open and operational and is not experiencing any disruptions,” they added. They also reported that the airport can handle flight diversions from San José if necessary.
However, passengers are advised to contact their airlines for information about arrivals and departures. The radar issues began in the early hours of the morning and continued throughout the morning. It was first reported that all flights at Juan Santamaría Airport in Alajuela were suspended from early Wednesday morning until further notice.
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that “in the early hours of the morning, there was an electrical failure in the Santamaría radar.” It was later added that the incident affected the entire airspace.
According to Luis Diego Saborío, deputy director general of Civil Aviation, the Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Efraím Zeledón, has ordered an internal investigation to clarify the causes of the failure and ensure the situation does not occur again.
Shirley Calvo, executive director of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), said the situation is a direct blow to the country’s image as a safe and reliable destination. “This event directly affects thousands of tourists, airlines, and all companies in the sector, but particularly our country’s image as a safe and reliable destination,” she said.
According to the CANATUR representative, the incident could represent losses of thousands of dollars for the tourism industry, one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy.
“The truth is that this cannot happen again, and this is our second request: to take all necessary contingency measures to ensure that a situation like this does not affect such a sensitive and delicate operation again,” she emphasized.
