Costa Rica is an active member of the international community and, in 1983, claimed it was for neutrality. Due to certain powerful constituencies favoring its methods, it has a weight in world affairs far beyond its size. The country lobbied aggressively for the establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and became the first nation to recognize the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, based in San José.
Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano,, operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As TACA, it still currently operates as the flag carrier of El Salvador. As Avianca El Salvador, it is one of the seven national branded airlines in the Avianca Group of Latin American airlines, and has been in operation for 75 years.
Avianca Costa Rica S.A., formerly known as LACSA, minority owned by the Synergy Group, is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José. It operates international scheduled services to over 35 destinations in Central, North and South America. The airline previously used the TACA/LACSA moniker when it was a subsidiary of Grupo TACA. Since May 2013, following Avianca's purchase of Grupo TACA, Avianca Costa Rica became one of seven nationally branded airlines operated by Avianca Group of Latin American airlines.
Air Panama is a regional airline based at Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport in Panama, and is currently the second-largest air carrier in the country, surpassed only by Copa Airlines. The carrier offers both scheduled and charter passenger flights to more than 31 destinations from its hub at Albrook International Airport.
Juan Santamaría International Airport is the primary airport serving San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The airport is located in the city of Alajuela, 20 km west 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 American filibuster William Walker.
Aero Costa Rica was an airline based in San José, Costa Rica. In 1997 it ceased operations.
Guanacaste Airport, known before as Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, and also known as Liberia International Airport, is one of four international airports in Costa Rica. It is 11 kilometres (7 mi) 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.
Volaris, legally Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.B. de C.V., is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City with its hubs in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Tijuana, and focus cities in Cancún, León, and Monterrey. It is Mexico's second largest airline after Aeroméxico and serves domestic and international destinations within the Americas. It is the leading airline in the Mexican domestic airline market, with a market share of over 28% of domestic traffic.
Tobías Bolaños International Airport is one of four international airports in Costa Rica, and the secondary airport serving the city of San José, after Juan Santamaría International Airport. It is located in downtown San José, in Pavas District, San José Canton. The airport is named for Costa Rican pilot Tobias Bolaños Palma (1892-1953).
Nature Air was a regional airline headquartered in San José, Costa Rica that offered a scheduled service to a range of tourist destinations in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. It operated scheduled domestic and international services, as well as charter services with turboprop aircraft. Its hub, operations and maintenance base was Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) having moved in 2013 from its original location at Aeropuerto Internacional Tobías Bolaños (SYQ). Claiming to be the world's first carbon neutral airline, it was one of the first airlines to publicize its sustainability credentials during a period of rapidly-expanding interest in eco-tourism. Nature Air received a number of awards, including a Global Vision Award for Sustainability from Travel + Leisure magazine in 2011. Its fleet consisted primarily of DHC-6 Twin Otter and Cessna 208 Grand Caravan turboprop aircraft that were ideally suited to short takeoff and landing characteristics of its destinations which often featured gravel or limited-paved landing strips. In 2010, Nature Air advertised 74 daily flights to 15 destinations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. On 31 December 2017, all 10 passengers and two pilots aboard Nature Air Flight 9916 were killed in an aerodynamic stall shortly after takeoff from Punta Islita airstrip. Although the accident was ultimately determined by the NTSB to have been caused by pilot error, Nature Air stopped flying in January 2018 and its operating license was indefinitely suspended by the civil aviation authority of Costa Rica on May 2, 2018 leading to the closure of the airline.
Bahía Drake Airport is an airport serving Bahía Drake, a Pacific coastal district with a long tradition as a tourist destination in Osa Canton, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. The airport is also known as Drake Bay Airport.
Tourism in Costa Rica has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism has earned more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined. The tourism boom began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1.03 million in 1999, over 2 million in 2008, to a historical record of 2.66 million foreign visitors in 2015. In 2012, tourism contributed with 12.5% of the country's GDP and it was responsible for 11.7% of direct and indirect employment. In 2009, tourism attracted 17% of foreign direct investment inflows, and 13% in average between 2000 and 2009. In 2010, the tourism industry was responsible for 21.2% of foreign exchange generated by all exports. According to a 2007 report by ECLAC, tourism contributed to a reduction in poverty of 3% in the country.
Arenal Airport is an airport serving La Fortuna, a district in San Carlos Canton, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. The airport is named after the Arenal Volcano, one of the major tourist attractions in the country.
Albatros Airlines by Nella is a Venezuelan charter airline with private capital, authorized to carry out flights for the transfer of passengers and cargo.
Vuela Aviacion S.A., operating as Volaris Costa Rica, is a low-cost airline based at Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica. It is a subsidiary of Mexican airline Volaris. Announced in March 2016, the airline began operations in November with flights to Guatemala City.
Cinema of Costa Rica refers to the film industry based in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican cinema comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of Costa Rica or by Costa Rican filmmakers abroad.
Costa Rica Green Airways Ltda. is a domestic airline based in San José, Costa Rica.
