The Juan Santamaría International Airport will have a new terminal for domestic flights by March of 2018.

According to Rafael Mencía, executive director of Aeris Costa Rica, company that administers the airport, the construction work already began and also includes the construction of a new firefighter station to the south of the main building.

The domestic terminal is being constructed as an environmentally friendly infrastructure that will operate on solar energy.

“We wanted to build a small terminal for domestic flights, and in this way we don’t have to use the main terminal for this operation, local flights will have their own space, and the main terminal will be used for international flights”,

The building with have the counters for domestic airlines and a space for Migration authorities, it will be located to the west of the current Juan Santamaría employee parking lot. This project will require some changes in the access route to the airport.

Last year there were almost 30 thousand local flights operated through the Juan Santamaría Airport, this number has continued to increase in the past few years, for instance in 2012 the number was of almost 21 thousand.

These projects are part of other improvements being done in the airport. A first stage was inaugurated this week which involves a new passenger access and 1000 square meters of new commercial spots. The second stage includes an operation center and an area for emergencies; and, as it had been informed earlier this year, two new boarding rooms to complete a total of 13.

Over 3.8 million travelers used the Juan Santamaría Airport last year.

Other small national airports received an important investment this year to offer better conditions to the travelers and in the hopes of increasing domestic air traffic and tourism to areas such as Golfito, Puerto Jimenez, Drake, Quepos and Upala, among others.