Q COSTARICA—After noting that the report circulated last week was not an official document and that the evaluation is ongoing, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) confirmed that Costa Rica maintains its operational safety level.
The Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT)—Ministry of Public Works and Transport—announced the news this afternoon in a press release.
The document, published via a link on the ICAO website last week and accessed by several media outlets, “is not an official or formal report, nor does it in any way represent the final results of the audit that the organization is conducting in Costa Rica,” the MOPT stated.
“It is incorrect to say that airfares and insurance policies will increase in price or that airport operations will be affected, as ICAO does not prohibit, limit, or call into question the country’s airport safety,” explained MOPT minister Efraím Zeledón.
On Monday, Marcos Castillo, head of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC), stated that the ICAO published false information on its website in which Costa Rica apparently failed the entity’s air safety assessment, with a score of 61.7%, failing at least four international airworthiness standards.
Castillo stated that ICAO clarified to him that this information is inaccurate and that they will offer the respective apologies via email, which, he said, must follow a complex process through the United Nations.
According to Castillo, “The ICAO acknowledged the error they made in uploading false information to one of their official websites. The ICAO apologized to us because the information they managed to download from an official page was incorrect and not official.”
Evaluation in Progress
The minister noted that the audit is still underway and its results will be released once all the respective processes and steps are completed.
This was confirmed by Julio César Siu, Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Office for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
“The ICAO USOAP audit program was created by ICAO Member States to help them strategically prioritize their efforts to improve oversight of their aviation sectors. The program includes many intermediate steps for collecting and verifying information,” he stated.
What happened?
Last week, it was announced that Costa Rica failed the most recent ICAO air safety evaluation, which led to the resignation of Luis Diego Saborío as Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC).
ICAO is the United Nations specialized agency responsible for ensuring operational safety in global aviation.
According to press reports published by several media outlets, the country scored 61.7% in the assessment for the fourth quarter of 2025, meaning the score is below the 75% minimum required by the organization.