SJOMROC

Juan Santamaría International Airport

San José (Alajuela), Costa Rica · Latin America

Latin America America/Costa_Rica IVCA 46.6

53direct destinations

31airlines

1runway

3,012 mLongest runway

1958opened

Juan Santamaría International Airport (IATA: SJO, ICAO: MROC) is the primary international airport serving San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The airport is located in Alajuela Province, 20 kilometres (12 mi; 11 nmi) northwest of downtown San José. It is named after Costa Rica's national hero, Juan Santamaría, a drummer boy who died in 1856 defending his country against forces led by William Walker, an American filibuster. It is the biggest and busiest airport in Costa Rica and second in Central America, transiting more than 5 million passengers per year before COVID. The airport is a hub for Avianca Costa Rica, Costa Rica Green Airways, Sansa Airlines, and Volaris Costa Rica, and a focus city for Avianca El Salvador and Copa Airlines. It was the country's only international gateway for many years, before the opening of the international airport in Liberia, Guanacaste. Both airports have direct flights to North and Central America and Europe, but Juan Santamaría International Airport also serves cities in South America and the Caribbean. Juan Santamaría International Airport was once the busiest airport in Central America, but is currently second after Tocumen International Airport in Panama. In 2022, Juan Santamaría International Airport received 5 million passengers (international and domestic).

Location

9.994°N, 84.209°O · 921 m s. n. m. (3.021 ft)

General data

CountryCosta Rica

CitySan José (Alajuela)

IATA codeSJO

ICAO codeMROC

Coordinates9.994°N, 84.209°O

Elevation921 m s. n. m. (3.021 ft)

Time zoneAmerica/Costa_Rica

Runways1

Longest runway3,012 m

Opened1958

Direct destinations53

Official website Its quality in the IVCA Ranking

Runways · 1

07/25

Length3,012 m9,882 ft

Width46 m151 ft

SurfaceAsphalt

Lighted✓

Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.

Radio frequencies · 6

Tower

118.600COCO TWR

Ground

121.900

Clearance delivery

121.300CLNC

Approach

120.500COCO APP

Area control (center)

119.600COCO CON

Flight information

126.800COCO RDO

Look for a live feed on LiveATC External site; not every airport has a feed.

Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.

History

The airport was built to replace the previous one in downtown San Jose, where Parque La Sabana is located today. The government secured funding in 1951 and construction proceeded slowly until the airport was officially inaugurated on 2 May 1958. It was initially called "Aeropuerto Internacional el Coco", after its location of the same name in the province of Alajuela. It was later renamed in honor of Juan Santamaría. In 1961, funding was secured to build the highway connecting the airport to downtown San José. In 1981, a five-year development plan was drawn for the airport. Subsequently, a new runway was built, and navigation aids including approach lights, a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR), an instrument landing system (ILS), distance measuring equipment (DME), and a radar were installed.

Airlines operating here · 31

Airlines using it as a main base (hub)

SANSA

Other airlines with direct routes

Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).

Photo: Mariordo · CC BY 3.0 · view original

Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

See all airports Search “San José (Alajuela)”

Cite

To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.

This page was last updated on October 15, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO

MLA

“Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_sjo,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-15},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SJO |title=Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}