Travel

Costa Rica closes airspace after radar system loses power

AnyFans 2025-09-24

By Rico

Q COSTARICA — Costa Rica closed its airspace on September 24, leading to major flight delays and cancellations. The shutdown began around 6:20 a.m. and is expected to last until noon at both Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose (SJO) and Guanacaste Airport in Liberia (LIR).

Officials say the disruption stems from an electrical failure in the country’s air radar system.

Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for updates and consider alternative travel plans, leaving many passengers stranded and flights delayed or canceled.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed Wednesday morning that the national radar system was down due to a power failure. The failure forced the temporary suspension of flight departures and arrivals in Costa Rica’s airspace.

The situation has resulted in aircraft being unable to land or take off. Some incoming flights are being diverted to alternate airports outside the country, such as Guatemala or Panama.

“Guanacaste Airport reports that, following instructions from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the national airspace is closed this Wednesday, September 24, from 6:19 am to 12 noon, local time.

Users are reporting on social media that the waiting rooms and boarding areas have become crowded, while airlines recommend travelers check their official apps for rescheduled times.

Although the Director of Civil Aviation, Marco Castillo, confirmed the emergency, it has not yet been specified how long it will take to restore the system. The institution maintains technical personnel addressing the outage.

Civil Aviation indicated that it will continue to provide information on the progress of the work and asked passengers to remain attentive to the airlines’ official channels.

The press department of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) confirmed to the outage but did not provide details, only that terminal staff are currently working to resolve the issue, and as a precautionary measure, operations have been suspended: no flights are allowed to enter or depart.