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Liberia Airport New Terminal Expansion

November 12, 2007

Liberia, Costa Rica

If you have traveled to Guanacaste region recently, you know that the development on its coast is booming. You have also probably used Liberia Daniel Oduber International Airport to get there. This fastest growing Costa Rica airport will finely see a well deserved expansion.

Costa Rica’s Consejo Tecnico de Aviacion Civil (Civil Aviation Technical Council, or CTAC) has opened up for bidding the project for construction of a new passenger terminal. The new terminal will be two stories tall and include four covered air bridges to protect passengers from the rain and sun.

The terminal will also include eight air-conditioned boarding areas. This is welcome news as the new boarding area inaugurated last March does not have air conditioning. The new 44,000-square foot terminal is designed to accommodate 1500 passengers at once — 600 more than now. The project will cost about $19 million, according to CTAC board member Guillermo Alvarez.

Thanks to increased tourism to Guanacaste, the airport receives more than 40 flights a week during the December high season. International flights to Liberia in the first half of 2007 increased 15.7% over the same period last year. An estimated 400,000 people will arrive at the airport by the end of this year. By 2009, that number is expected to increase by another 100,000.

At least seven international companies have expressed interest in the private concession to build and operate the new terminal. The Houston Airport System (HAS), which runs the three principal airports in Houston, Texas, is reportedly preparing to bid. HAS is said to be the sixth-largest multi-airport operating company in the world.

Alvarez says the contract should be awarded by this March and construction will begin six months after that, in September. The new terminal should be finished by September 2009 — good news for all the developments in Guanacaste that are attracting foreign investment.

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