Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport has renewed the highest level of an international passenger experience accreditation, placing the country’s main airport among just 12 worldwide holding the distinction in 2026. The airport, operated by AERIS, received Level 5 accreditation for the second consecutive year under the Airports Council International Customer Experience Accreditation program. Level 5 is the highest of five levels in the program.
The distinction does not simply rank airports based on how much passengers like them. Instead, ACI examines how well an airport has built the passenger experience into the way it operates, including how it listens to travelers, trains employees, measures service, uses technology and coordinates the different companies and government agencies working inside the terminal.
Juan Santamaría is one of only 12 airports worldwide currently holding Level 5 accreditation. Quito’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Ecuador is the other Level 5 airport in the Americas. “Renewing Level 5 represents for us an achievement as important as reaching it for the first time, because it demonstrates that we have managed to maintain a culture of service over time and that the passenger experience is part of the decisions we make to continue transforming the airport,” AERIS CEO Ricardo Hernández said.
AERIS has expanded its passenger service programs over the past year, including an Excellence Program aimed at improving customer service across the airport community. The airport also strengthened its Customer Experience Committee, which brings together airlines, airport operators, businesses and government agencies to identify problems and coordinate improvements.
About 500 employees from AERIS and other organizations working at Juan Santamaría participated in training, workshops and passenger service activities during 2025. Travelers have also begun seeing more technology designed to reduce waiting times and make moving through the terminal easier.
The airport is using LiDAR technology to anonymously monitor passenger flows around passport control and security in the international departures area. According to AERIS, Juan Santamaría is the first airport in Latin America to use the technology for this purpose. Other projects include automated eGates for immigration, self-service baggage drop systems and new scanning technology at security checkpoints. The airport began operating its first four eGates in the arrivals area on September 8.
Accessibility has also become part of the effort. Juan Santamaría joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program, an international system that allows travelers with non-visible disabilities to discreetly signal that they may need extra time or assistance. The airport has also achieved Level 1 in ACI’s Accessibility Enhancement Accreditation program.
Recent passenger surveys indicate that the changes are being noticed. At the end of June 2026, Juan Santamaría scored 4.44 out of 5 for overall passenger satisfaction and 4.38 for overall experience under ACI’s Airport Service Quality program. Its satisfaction score was slightly above the worldwide average of 4.38 for airports handling a similar number of passengers.
The accreditation comes as Juan Santamaría continues a broader modernization program. The airport currently connects Costa Rica with 42 destinations and is served by 26 international airlines and two domestic carriers. For travelers, the Level 5 renewal does not mean every trip through Juan Santamaría will be trouble-free.
Lines, flight disruptions and busy travel periods remain part of airport travel. What the accreditation indicates is that passenger experience has become part of the airport’s formal management system rather than a collection of individual customer service projects. For Costa Rica, that carries added importance because Juan Santamaría is the first and last impression of the country for millions of international visitors each year.
