What to know for Costa Rican domestic charter flights.
Are you planning a trip to Costa Rica this year? Are you wondering if it is worth the extra cost? You’re in luck! Thanks to the country’s domestic charter flights, you get a taste more of our tropical paradise without wasting time during long drives or lay overs. Keep reading to learn more about this time saving way to see Costa Rica.
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1. What is a private charter flight?
The main difference is that a scheduled flight refers to a commercial flight that sells seats on the aircraft and a charter flight refers to a private aircraft that has been booked by an individual or private group.
2. Arrival in Costa Rica
You can land either at the San Jose international, which is pretty much located in the center on the country or at the Guanacaste (Liberia) airport which is in the northeastern side of Costa Rica. If you are connecting to a remote destination like the Osa Peninsula, the Nicoya Peninsula, or Tortuguero National Park, you will likely take a domestic flight to save time and avoid the nightmare of Costa Rican roads. Even what might appear to be a short distance, could take 4 to 5 hours by car.
San Jose has a domestic terminal in addition to the international terminal which is a 5-minute walk away. Liberia uses the same Terminal for domestic flights originating there.
There is also a second smaller General Aviation airport in San Jose, Tobias Bolanos Palma airport or also called Pavas airport. This can be used if you overnight in San Jose after arrival or prior to your return flight, which is closer to downtown and has less air and passenger traffic.
Advantages: charter over scheduled domestic flights
San Jose is the hub for all the domestic flights going in and out. This means that in most of the cases, domestic flights to certain locations can only be taken to/from San Jose. For example, even though Tambor is a bit closer to Liberia, the only domestic flights to/from Tambor are through San Jose. If traveling across the country, from the Osa Peninsula to Liberia for instance, there will be a layover in San Jose.
This is where charter flights shine. They can fly you across Costa Rica without any lay over saving lots of time which means you get to enjoy more of the sights your destination has to offer.
3.Local Airports and Charter fleet
Most of the local “airports” are small airstrips throughout the country and only a few are lighted. For this reason, the Costa Rican charter fleet mainly are small single and twin-engine propeller planes and helicopters holding under 12 passengers or less.
4.Luggage: Please pack light!
We know you want to be prepared and carry a bit for any occasion but please take the above info about aircraft size into account when packing your luggage. Small suitcases and soft bags are preferred. In most cases there is the option to send the additional luggage pieces per van to the hotel.
5.Flight limitations
Another item to take into consideration is your international arrival time into Costa Rica. Due to local regulations and lack of airport lighting, local flights are limited from sunrise to sunset.
What does that mean? Basically, we must take off by 17.00 hrs. the latest depending on your destination. Other wise you will have to stay a night either in San Jose or Liberia and fly the next day. The only exception are flights between San Jose and Guanacaste airport which go from sunrise to 21.00 hrs. local time.
6. Flying conditions
Costa Rica mountainous profile and location dictate certain seasonally weather conditions.
From December to April, we will experience windy conditions in the central valley, mountain passes and northern part of the country. Even though it is the dry season clouds and precipitation can form in the San Carlos region and on the Caribbean coast as well.
May to November will bring light winds and cloud build up during the morning that will turn into rain showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Please note that weather patterns are not written in stone and each season might be a bit different.
Pricing
All the private charter companies are located at the Tobias Bolanos airport in San Jose. So, for example, if your destination is Tamarindo the private charter company will fly you there and must return the aircraft back to its base in San Jose. So that 45-minute flight you just took, is 90 minutes for the company. As we mentioned in the beginning, you are not paying for a ticket but rather booking the whole airplane. So yes, it is more expensive than a seat in a scheduled domestic flight. Yes, it most likely also is more expensive than the flight that you took to Costa Rica. But in return you get personalized catered service to your needs, peace of mind, you set the time of the flight, your family fly’s alone with no other passengers, no long car or shuttle rides across the country.
As the saying goes; the cheapest is not necessarily the worst nor is the most expensive always the best.
Compare the operators, check out the equipment and other services provided before you commit.
We look forward to welcoming you aboard soon!
