QCOSTARICA – With the construction of a new and modern aircraft repair hangar, work on the final expansion of San Jose’s Juan Santamaria airport can take place.
Stalling the airport’s expansion program is the current location of the Coopesa (Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aeroindustriales) hangar on the west side of the terminal.
Coopesa is an employee-owned company founded in 1963, providing maintenance, repair and overhaul of the narrowbody aircraft,c ertified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and others.
Moving Coopesa and the relocation of the airport’s fire station, will allow the construction of six new boarding gates and commercial area. Work is expected to begin in 2018, according to the master plan by airport manager Aeris, that includes a total of 17 board gates and a capacity of 7 million users annually by 2026.
But before the current hangar can be demolished, the new hangar has to be built. According to Aeris, the first phase of the new hangar construction, that includes pile driving, the building of retaining walls and a public access road, is at 70% completion. The next phase is the construction of the hangar building and parking areas, which is expected by July 2016.
On its website, Coopesa says it expects to be in the new facilities by the first quarter of 2017, a hangar that will be able to accommodate aircraft as a large as a Boeing 757, and a capacity of six aircraft at the same time.
The cost of the new hangar, located on the southwest side of the airport, in the area known as La Candela, is estimated at US$39 million dollars.
In my opinion, Coopesa would be well advised to build this hangar at the Liberia, rather than the Juan Santa Maria Airport. Depending on the Government of the day, a new international airport may be built in the Orotina area in the next twenty years, which is closer to sea level, and more conducive to aircraft performance than the current Juan Santa Maria Airport, which is at 3,500 ASL. I believe that a tentative land assembly has been made in the Orotina area for this new proposed airport. Liberia Airport, being virtually at sea level, offers the same advantages as the new airport would, plus there is an abundance of farm land surrounding the Airport that would be available for future expansion. Juan Santa Maria Airport is a dying airport for larger aircraft and long-haul international flights, being hemmed in by mountains and restricted significantly by its altitude.
I definitely agree with most of this post. SJO cannot accommodate the future needs of Costa Rica’s international commercial aviation. If Coopesa wants to remain at SJO, I can see the benefit of that, but SJO’s time as the primary international airport in Costa Rica will soon end. Airlines are rapidly jumping ship to Liberia, which is a better airport, technically speaking, and has plenty of room for expansion. There’s enough vacant land around the existing Liberia airport to start pouring concrete and turn it into a 6-runway Superhub, Right Now.
Of course, San José will need an active airport for the foreseeable future. In my opinion, the Orotina/Cascajal airport MUST happen before 2030. If it doesn’t, tourist transport at SJO will practically cease to exist by then. LIR is already outgrowing SJO’s passenger traffic at a 3:1 rate, and there is no indication of that trend slowing down. The New airport would serve SJO just as well, and make tourist movement along the Pacific Coast much more efficient. No more dealing with San José’s road traffic. In addition, the New airport’s location on Route 27 will make for an excellent connection to Puerto Caldera. Shipping non-heavy items between Asia and the Americas will become much more efficient.
In the long-term, the New airport could conceivably replace Tocumen as Central America’s premier hub airport. A hub needs originating and terminating traffic to survive, and Costa Rica is already far ahead of Panama in attracting International terminating passenger traffic. Avianca could conceivably fly narrow-body aircraft from the New airport, nonstop, to 95% of the relevant airports in the Western Hemisphere.
From a Pilot and Air Traffic Control point-of-view… the terrain, altitude, and available space at the New airport site would allow for at least 2 parallel runways, easily supporting simultaneous independent parallel visual approaches and at least simultaneous parallel dependent instrument approaches, using current standards and internationally-accepted rules.