| Guanacaste Airport | |
| Nativename: | Guanacaste Aeropuerto |
| Image2-Width: | 250 |
| Iata: | LIR |
| Icao: | MRLB |
| Type: | Public |
| Owner: | Government of Costa Rica |
| Operator: | Coriport S.A. |
| City-Served: | Liberia, Costa Rica |
| Elevation-F: | 269 |
| Coordinates: | 10.5931°N -85.5456°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Costa Rica |
| Pushpin Label: | LIR |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Costa Rica |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 07/25 |
| R1-Length-M: | 2750 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Stat-Year: | 2022 |
| Stat1-Header: | Passengers |
| Stat1-Data: | 1,392,698 |
| Stat2-Header: | Passenger change 21–22 |
| Stat2-Data: | 80.4% |
| Stat3-Header: | Aircraft movements |
| Stat3-Data: | 21,405 |
| Stat4-Header: | Movements change 21–22 |
| Stat4-Data: | 16.0% |
| Footnotes: | Source: AIP[1] DGAC[2] SkyVector[3] Google Maps[4] |
Guanacaste Airport—officially, Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (Spanish; Castilian: Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Oduber Quirós)—, and also known as Liberia International Airport, is one of four international airports in Costa Rica. It sits 11km (07miles) west-southwest of the city of Liberia in Guanacaste Province, and serves as a tourism hub for those who visit the Pacific coast and western Costa Rica. The facility covers 243ha of land and has a single 2750m (9,020feet) runway that can handle wide-body aircraft, including the Boeing 747.[5]
The idea for an airport in Guanacaste Province was conceived during the government of Daniel Oduber Quirós (1974–1978).[6] The airport was initially named "Llano Grande", after the surrounding area,[6] then renamed "Aeropuerto Tomas Guardia," and finally honor Quirós for his work for the province of Guanacaste. Today, most people call it "Liberia International Airport", and in 2021 the name was changed to Guanacaste Airport for branding purposes.[7]
In October 1995, the airport was re-inaugurated as an international airport. To support this expansion of operations, the pavement on the runway was redone and special landing lights were installed.[6] Also a firefighter station was added to comply with FAA and international regulations.[8] 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 one almost every day.[9]
In 2006, to manage increased demand of the airport, the government and local tourism chamber boards set aside funds to increase the parking capacity of the tarmac from five to eight airplanes, and for the construction of a parallel taxiway.[10] 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.[10] Also in 2007 a new waiting area and airport counters were opened,[11] the airport was by then receiving more than 180,000 visitors yearly.[11]
In the 2010s, the government of Costa Rica awarded CORIPORT, S.A., a 20-year concession to design, finance, construct and operate a new terminal building and associated facilities on about 36000m2 of land then 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.[12] The latter is the project's operator.
The new 23000m2 terminal building has a contemporary design that is larger and more efficient than the old one. Construction started on 19 October 2010; the terminal opened on 12 January 2012.[13] Another expansion, built from January to November 2017, added space for five more airlines.[14]
Colors = id:gray value:gray(0.5) id:line1 value:gray(0.9) id:line2 value:gray(0.7) ScaleMajor = start:0 increment:250 gridcolor:line2ScaleMinor = start:0 increment:125 gridcolor:line1 PlotData= color:blue width:21 bar:2000 from:start till:91 bar:2001 from:start till:87 bar:2002 from:start till:62 bar:2003 from:start till:98 bar:2004 from:start till:204 bar:2005 from:start till:303 bar:2006 from:start till:392 bar:2007 from:start till:423 bar:2008 from:start till:443 bar:2009 from:start till:396 bar:2010 from:start till:311 bar:2011 from:start till:540 bar:2012 from:start till:669 bar:2013 from:start till:680 bar:2014 from:start till:780 bar:2015 from:start till:878 bar:2016 from:start till:1146 bar:2017 from:start till:1092 bar:2018 from:start till:1117 bar:2019 from:start till:1149 bar:2020 from:start till:454 bar:2021 from:start till:772 color:darkblue bar:2022 from:start till:1392 | |
| Source: Directorate General of Civil Aviation |
| Number of passengers! | Percentage change | Number of movements | Percentage change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 91,206 | – | 9,095 | – | |
| 2001 | 87,145 | 4.45% | 6,347 | 30.21% | |
| 2002 | 61,948 | 28.91% | 6,467 | 1.89% | |
| 2003 | 98,495 | 59.00% | 7,089 | 9.62% | |
| 2004 | 203,823 | 106.94% | 9,955 | 40.43% | |
| 2005 | 303,171 | 48.74% | 12,754 | 28.12% | |
| 2006 | 391,567 | 29.16% | 13,852 | 8.61% | |
| 2007 | 423,327 | 8.11% | 14,592 | 5.34% | |
| 2008 | 442,902 | 4.62% | 16,615 | 13.86% | |
| 2009 | 396,188 | 10.55% | 12,716 | 23.47% | |
| 2010 | 311,009 | 21.50% | 11,720 | 7.83% | |
| 2011 | 539,610 | 73.50% | 11,695 | 0.21% | |
| 2012 | 668,762 | 23.93% | 13,005 | 11.20% | |
| 2013 | 680,355 | 1.73% | 14,059 | 8.10% | |
| 2014 | 779,757 | 14.61% | 15,366 | 9.30% | |
| 2015 | 878,365 | 12.65% | 19,468 | 26.70% | |
| 2016 | 1,146,163 | 30.49% | 20,758 | 6.63% | |
| 2017 | 1,092,483 | 4.68% | 21,037 | 1.34% | |
| 2018 | 1,116,810 | 2.19% | 20,799 | 1.14% | |
| 2019 | 1,148,811 | 2.87% | 19,630 | 5.62% | |
| 2020 | 453,877 | 60.49% | 10,096 | 48.57% | |
| 2021 | 771,986 | 70.09% | 18,446 | 82.71% | |
| 2022 | 1,392,698 | 80.40% | 21,405 | 16.04% | |
| Source: Directorate General of Civil Aviation of Costa Rica | |||||
| Airport | Arrivals | Departures | Total | 2015-2016 | Carriers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston, United States | 151,602 | 147,711 | 299,313 | 39.95% | Southwest, United | |
| 2 | Atlanta, United States | 66,719 | 70,254 | 138,765 | 0.15% | Delta | |
| 3 | Los Angeles, United States | 66,971 | 70,254 | 134,623 | 402.19% | Alaska, Delta, Southwest | |
| 4 | New York City, United States | 48,778 | 48,293 | 97,071 | 33.36% | Delta, Jetblue | |
| 5 | Toronto, Canada | 47,338 | 44,787 | 92,125 | 7.88% | Air Canada, Air Transat, Sunwing, WestJet | |
| 6 | Miami, United States | 44,183 | 47,153 | 91,336 | 21.99% | American | |
| 7 | Newark, United States | 12,472 | 26,025 | 38,497 | 17.44% | United | |
| 8 | London, United Kingdom | 15,592 | 14,593 | 30,185 | TUI Airways | ||
| 9 | Dallas, United States | 13,774 | 14,594 | 28,323 | 27.90% | American | |
| 10 | Minneapolis, United States | 13,608 | 14,013 | 27,621 | 68.81% | Delta, Sun Country | |
| 11 | Chicago, United States | 12,300 | 13,651 | 25,951 | 25.39% | United | |
| 12 | Calgary, Canada | 9,202 | 9,465 | 18,667 | 1476.6% | WestJet | |
| 13 | Montreal, Canada | 6,129 | 7,263 | 13,392 | 8.27% | Air Canada, Air Transat, Sunwing | |
| 14 | Panama City, Panama | 5,245 | 5,897 | 12,194 | 8.63% | Copa | |
| 15 | Denver, United States | 5,823 | 5,543 | 11,366 | 71.82% | Southwest, United | |
| Source: Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Air Transportation Statistical Yearbook (Years 2015,[15] and 2016[16]). Notes: United flies to Houston-Intercontinental Airport, and Southwest flies to Houston-Hobby Airport. The data here is for traffic between LIR and all airports in Houston. | |||||||