- Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport
-
Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport
Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Oduber Quirós
IATA: LIR – ICAO: MRLB Summary Airport type Public Operator Dirección General de Aviación Civil Location Liberia, Costa Rica Elevation AMSL 82 m / 269 ft Coordinates 10°35′35″N 085°32′44″W / 10.59306°N 85.54556°WCoordinates: 10°35′35″N 085°32′44″W / 10.59306°N 85.54556°W Map Location in Costa Rica
MRLBRunways Direction Length Surface m ft 07/25 2,750 9,022 Asphalt Statistics (2010) Total Passengers 443,585 Source: Costa Rican AIP[1] Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Oduber Quirós) (IATA: LIR, ICAO: MRLB), also known as Liberia International Airport, is one of the four international airports in Costa Rica. The airport is located in the city of Liberia in Guanacaste Province. It serves specially as a tourism hub, for those who visit the Pacific coast and Western Costa Rica. The airport is named for Daniel Oduber Quirós, who served as president of Costa Rica from 1974 to 1978.
Daniel Oduber Quirós International airport is the country's second and Central America's ninth busiest airport. In 2010, Liberia International Airport reported 443,585 passengers, a 16% increase compared to 2009[2].
Contents
History
The idea for an airport in the province of Guanacaste was initially conceived during the government of Daniel Oduber Quirós (1974–1978).[3] The airport was initially named "Llano Grande", due to the name of the area that it was built in.[3] It would later be named after ex president Daniel Oduber Quirós in honor of his work for the province of Guanacaste.
In October 1995 the airport was re-inaugurated as an international airport, as a part of the expansion the pavement on the runway was redone, and special landing lights were installed.[3] Also a firefighter station was added to comply with FAA and international regulations.[4] Initial response from commercial airlines to the expansion was timid, however after one year the airport went from having only one weekly charter flight to almost one everyday.[5]
In 2006 to manage increased demand, the government and local tourism chamber boards set aside funds to increase the parking area on the tarmac from 5 to 8 airplanes and the construction of a parallel taxiway.[6] However the government made it clear that the solutions were only temporary and that a private company would need to be contracted to expand and operate the airport in the future.[6] Also in 2007 a new waiting area and airport counters were opened,[7] the airport was by then receiving more than 180,000 visitors yearly.[7]
New terminal building and operator
The government of Costa Rica awarded Coriport, S.A., a 20-year concession to design, finance, construct and operate a new terminal building and its associated landside facilities, as well as approximately 36,000 m2 (390,000 sq ft) of airport land currently occupied by the existing terminal and associated facilities. Coriport's shareholders include MMM Aviation Group, Emperador Pez Espada S.R.L., Inversiones Cielo Claro LTDA, Cocobolo Inversiones S.R.L., and ADC&HAS Airports Worldwide[8] who is also the project's operator.
The new terminal building, encompassing approximately 23,000 m2 (250,000 sq ft), will feature a contemporary design that both increases efficiency and capacity over the existing facility. Construction started on October 19, 2010 with opening schedule for Q3 2011.
Airlines and destinations
Airlines Destinations Air Berlin Seasonal: Düsseldorf Air Canada Seasonal: Montreal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson Air Transat Seasonal: Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver Arkefly Seasonal: Amsterdam American Airlines Dallas/Ft. Worth, Miami Canjet Seasonal: Toronto-Pearson Continental Airlines Houston-Intercontinental, Newark Delta Air Lines Atlanta
Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul [begins January 7]Enerjet Seasonal: Toronto-Pearson Frontier Airlines Seasonal: Denver Jetairfly Brussels JetBlue Airways New York-JFK[9] Miami Air Seasonal: Miami Nature Air La Fortuna, Managua, Punta Islita, Pavas-SYQ, Tamarindo Sun Country Airlines Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul [begins January 13] Sunwing Airlines Toronto-Pearson TACA operated by TACA Regional San Salvador TACA operated by Sansa San José de Costa Rica, Tamarindo Thomas Cook Canada operated by Jazz Air Seasonal: Montreal-Trudeau, Ottawa, Toronto-Pearson Thomson Airways London-Gatwick United Airlines Seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare USA 3000 Airlines Seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare US Airways Charlotte References
- ^ AIP - Part 3 Aerodromes
- ^ (Spanish) La Nación. Liberia espera alza superior al 10% anual en el número de pasajeros
- ^ a b c Barahona, Hazel (1996-05-27). "Aeropuerto de Liberia aún no despega" (in Spanish). La Nacion (Costa Rica). http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/1996/mayo/27/pagina08.html.
- ^ Sánchez Quirós, Olger Rafael. "Historia del Cuerpo de Bomberos del Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Oduber Quirós Liberia Guanacaste" (in Spanish). http://www.bomberos.go.cr/Bomberos/organizacion/aeropuertoLiberia.jsp. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ Mora, Emilia (1997-01-19). "Liberia despega" (in Spanish). La Nacion (Costa Rica). http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/1997/enero/19/pagina04.html.
- ^ a b Rodríguez, Rebeca (2006-04-27). "Aeropuerto de Liberia con mayor espacio para aviones" (in Spanish). La Nacion (Costa Rica). http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2006/abril/27/pais7.html.
- ^ a b Rodríguez, Rebeca (2007-03-23). "Gobierno inaugura obras en aeropuerto de Liberia" (in Spanish). La Nacion (Costa Rica). http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2007/marzo/23/economia1039868.html.
- ^ ADC & HAS[not specific enough to verify]
- ^ http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1582617&highlight=
External links
- LIR International Airport - Flight Status information.
- NEW LIR Terminal Facebook Page
Categories:- Airports in Costa Rica
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
