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State of Emergency
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TACA President Says San
José Airport Not
Equipped To Handle the
High Season
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TACA President Says San
José Airport Not
Equipped To Handle the
High Season
Officials
of the TACA airline warn
that coming "high
season" will be a pure
pain in the neck for
tourists and the
airlines as the Juan
Santamaría (San José)
international airport is
not equipped to handle
the arrival of more
passengers.
"Costa Rica has to get
with it to have an
airport like tourists
and Costa Ricans
deserve, it is a shame
the airport Costa Rica
now has. Going through
the airport is torture",
said Roberto Kriete,
executive president of
TACA, following a press
conference in San
Salvador, the home base
of the airline.
The situation stems from
the problems that the
Costa Rican government
has had with the builder
and manager of the
airport, Alterra
Partners, who for years
have been locked in a
battle and and an
attempt to find a
solution to finish the
Santamaría terminal.
Kriete said that the
airport should have 20
boarding gates and not
the actual four.
The TACA president made
analogy of the airport
being a patient that was
critically injured and
being treated with band
aids and that the
government should make a
major investment in the
development of the
airport and not simply
treat the short term
problems.
Kriete did not discard
that the small things
being done help out, but
that is not the solution
to the problem.
One of the areas that
the airport has to
improve greatly,
according to Kriete, is
the co-ordination
between immigration and
customs officials to
have more staff on hand
to handle the increased
volume of people coming
and going from the
country.
The lack of approach
landing lights, which
have not been operations
for several years, is
another problem that has
caused airlines money
and inconvenienced
passengers.
"The approach lights are
a big help and used to
line up the airplane
with the landing strip,
without them the
approach distance is
minimal", said Juan
Carlos Barquero, TACA
operations manager.
Barquero added that he
has sent letters to both
Alterra and Aviación
Civíl (Civil aviation)
and still no one has
found a solution to the
problem.
According to the pilots
the responsibility of
the consequences of an
accident is on their
shoulders and many,
especially for the
foreign airline pilots,
prefer not to land in
foul weather without the
approach lights.
This week alone a number
of flights were delayed
and/or diverted on three
days because of poor
weather which would have
been less if the airport
had the approach landing
lights working. One TACA
flight on Wednesday was
sent back to El Salvador
only to get clearing for
landing in San José an
hour later.
In the cases of flight
originating from the
United States and
Europe, many end in
Panama, Nicaragua and in
some cases Liberia.
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The Juan Santamaría (San José)
international airport only counts with
four boarding gates when it should
really have 20, according to Roberto
Kriete, president of TACA airlines.
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