Mexico & Central America
Airport Guides

Costa Rica

Costa Rican airports we operate into

Three fields covering the capital, the Pacific north west and the Caribbean coast.

Operating Detail

Mexico & Central America briefings

The operational notes behind the airport choice.

Operating into Mexico

What is different about flying a private jet into Mexico or Costa Rica

Mexico is a permits market. Foreign operators hold a permit from AFAC: charter operators use a Blanket Permit with the AOC validated by AFAC, which the desk plans at ten business days, and since 1 January 2024 private operations file six-month single-entry authorisations. APIS is a two-step filing in both directions, a manifest and a reconfirmation. A Part 91 flight carries insurance that names Mexico, the registration and airworthiness certificates and the pilots' licences and medicals, plus a private letter of operation at Cancun. Time zones vary: Quintana Roo is UTC-5 all year, Baja California Sur UTC-7, and Baja California alone keeps daylight saving. Costa Rica asks for no landing permit, but parking permission is required everywhere and San Jose adds a slot and mandatory handling.

On the Caribbean side, Cancun has an 11,483 foot main runway, a 24 hour operation and a general aviation terminal with its own customs, 20 to 30 minutes from the hotel zone. Cozumel has its own international airport, a 10,165 foot main runway and customs three kilometres from town, so a direct arrival avoids the ferry. On the Baja corridor the international airport is Los Cabos at San Jose del Cabo, with a 9,843 foot runway, customs at the general aviation terminal, hours of 0700 to 2100 with no overtime, and 45 minutes to Cabo San Lucas. Cabo San Lucas International is a private field 15 to 20 minutes from the marina, open 0600 to 2000, with a 6,998 foot runway for light and mid-size jets.

Tijuana sits on the border with a 9,711 foot runway and a bridge into San Diego. Queretaro serves the Bajio on an 11,483 foot runway at 6,270 feet of elevation. Acapulco has a 10,827 foot runway, with facilities confirmed for each flight since Hurricane Otis. In Costa Rica, Juan Santamaria at San Jose has a 9,882 foot runway at 3,007 feet and serves the capital and the south. Guanacaste, still called Liberia, has a 9,022 foot runway and is 40 minutes from Papagayo against four hours from San Jose, with no overnight parking in peak. Limon has a 5,906 foot runway 98 feet wide, fuel that is not reliably stocked and no permanent customs, so most jets use San Jose and drive.

The constraint that catches crews out is the operating window at the Cabo fields. Los Cabos closes at 2100 with no overtime and Cabo San Lucas at 2000 with customs arranged ahead rather than assumed, so an evening slip has no airport to land at. From Christmas to Easter the resorts fill, Cabo surcharges handling and parking, and overnight parking has to be confirmed before the aircraft moves. The desk picks the field for the hour and the address, confirms the customs arrangement for each Cabo San Lucas flight, books the peak parking, and plans Limon as a no-fuel stop unless availability is confirmed for the date.

Send the dates, the aircraft and the airports ten business days out for a Blanket Permit, with the registration, airworthiness and insurance wording, pilot licences and medicals, and passports for APIS. Dogs and cats travel on the Spanish-language form with a vet certificate inside fifteen days, and since August 2026 dogs need a screwworm certificate inside five days each way. The desk files both APIS steps and files Costa Rica with the Mexico legs when the itinerary continues south.

Facts checked against the SICT Mexico publications, the airport guides above and Icarus Jet operations data.