Aviation History
Costa Rican civil aviation was built around LACSA (Líneas Aéreas Costarricenses), founded in 1945 with Pan American World Airways assistance and nationalized in 1958, which long served as the country's flag carrier. LACSA joined the Central American TACA Group alliance in the late 1990s and was rebranded Avianca Costa Rica after the 2013 Avianca-TACA merger. Domestic carriers such as Sansa, founded in 1978 as a LACSA subsidiary, have connected San José's Juan Santamaría International Airport to the country's many small regional and beach airstrips.
Líneas Aéreas Costarricenses (LACSA) was established on 17 October 1945 with assistance from Pan American World Airways, beginning domestic services with Douglas DC-3s in 1946.
LACSA formally gained recognition as Costa Rica's national flag carrier.
The Costa Rican government nationalized LACSA, bringing the flag carrier under state ownership.
Servicios Aéreos Nacionales (Sansa) was established as a domestic subsidiary of LACSA, expanding regional connectivity within Costa Rica.
LACSA began operating within the multinational TACA Airlines alliance alongside other Central American carriers.
Following the Avianca-TACA merger process, LACSA began operating under the unified Avianca brand as Avianca Costa Rica.
Avianca Holdings, parent of Avianca Costa Rica, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid the COVID-19 pandemic's severe impact on air travel.
Avianca Costa Rica (formerly LACSA) · Sansa · Nature Air (defunct)
Wikipedia, airline corporate history, Tico Times/Q Costa Rica aviation reporting
Aviation Firsts
La Sabana International Airport — San José (1940): Authorized by Executive Decree No. 29 (28 November 1936), described as "el primer aeródromo internacional" (the country's first international aerodrome); built 1937, officially inaugurated 7 April 1940 (corroborated by a 2015 Correos de Costa Rica stamp marking the airport's 75th anniversary). Closed 1974; the terminal now houses the Costa Rican Museum of Art, grounds became La Sabana Metropolitan Park in 1977. A weaker, undated lead places informal aviation use at the same site back to the 1910s (Charles Lindbergh landed there in 1928) but this is not independently corroborated and is flagged as a lead, not a claim. · Wikipedia ↗
Juan Santamaría International Airport — San José (1958): Opened 2 May 1958 (originally "Aeropuerto Internacional El Coco"), built to replace La Sabana for international traffic. Costa Rica's main airport today, second-busiest in Central America after Tocumen (Panama); approximately 6.7 million passengers in 2025. · SJO ↗ · Wikipedia ↗
La Sabana (1940) was the oldest/first international airport by construction and opening date but has been closed since 1974 and converted into a museum and park; Juan Santamaría (1958) is the oldest airport still operating today, having replaced La Sabana for international traffic.
LACSA (now Avianca Costa Rica) (1945): Founded 17 October 1945, began operations 1 June 1946, formed with assistance from Pan American World Airways using Douglas DC-3s on domestic routes. Became Costa Rica's flag carrier in 1949, nationalized 1958; joined the TACA alliance 1998, operating as "Avianca Costa Rica" from 28 May 2013 after the Avianca/TACA merger. TACA itself (founded 1931) is El Salvador–headquartered, not Costa Rican, so it is not counted as a competing claim; no earlier Costa Rica–headquartered airline than LACSA was found. · LR ↗ · Wikipedia ↗
Swissport International (Switzerland): Obtained a license for Costa Rica with operations scheduled to commence 1 November 2009, per Swissport's own press release (23 October 2009), via a long-term partnership with Inter Airport Services (IAS), a Costa Rican ground handler owned by the Central American Interexpresso group, covering Juan Santamaría International Airport (San José) and Daniel Oduber International Airport (Liberia). No source makes an explicit "first ever" superlative, but no earlier foreign GH entrant was found — Menzies Aviation entered 14 years later (announced 24 March 2023). Still listed in Swissport's current network pages for both airports. Explicitly checked dnata, Çelebi, Havaş, National Aviation Services and WFS, with no results for Costa Rica. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · AviationPros ↗
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Ownership & operator links shown only once independently verified against a public source.