Guanacaste Airport is the new name for the old Liberia International Airport which keeps its IATA code of LIR. The airport was also known by its civic name of Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport after Costa Rica’s 37th president.
The “Guanacaste Airport” rebranding is designed to “Improve the visibility and attractiveness of Guanacaste in international markets” according to VINCI Airports and the Government of Costa Rica.
The turtle logo represents Costa Rica’s environmental commitment and also the demographic of the visitor they are seeking to attract.
The airport hopes to improve on its visitor numbers which have maintained it’s ranking as the second busiest airport in Costa Rica, a country that is the most visited in Central America with pre-Covid numbers of more than three million foreign visitors each year.
Costa Rica has become a leader in air traffic recovery with the tourist industry working with the government on a strategy of openness during the pandemic and as a result, in June of 2021, Guanacaste Airport reached 98% of its operations during the same month in 2019 (pre-Covid).
There have been a number of new routes and the return of flights to and from Guanacaste during the pandemic. Nica-Biz ran articles on KLM resuming flights on the 29th of June 2021 and Southwest flights resuming flights from the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas as well as a weekly seasonal service to Costa Rica from Baltimore/Washington (BWI).
In 2018 Guanacaste Airport joined the VINCI Airports group when VINCI acquired the portfolio of a company called Airports Worldwide. VINCI Airports provides various levels of development, financing and operations to 45 airports in 12 countries.
In 2017, the airport was recognized as carbon neutral by EARTH University and in 2021 received an Airports Council International “Level 2 Airport Carbon Accreditation” for its work on environmental issues relating to the operating of the airport.
