# Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)

> San José (Alajuela), CR · IATA: SJO · ICAO: MROC · Large Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `SJO` |
| ICAO | `MROC` |
| City | San José (Alajuela) |
| Country | CR |
| Type | Large Airport |
| Elevation | 921 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | 9.99386, -84.20880 |

## Description

Opened in 1958 and named after Costa Rica's national hero Juan Santamaría, this airport near Alajuela has grown into the country's largest and its principal point of departure for air freight. While passenger numbers are substantial, the cargo story is what matters to the trade: Costa Rica is one of Latin America's leading exporters of medical devices, and much of that high-value output leaves the country by air from here. Swissport runs a modern cargo warehouse and handles temperature-controlled perishables — pineapples, melons, ornamental foliage, cut flowers and fresh seafood bound mainly for Miami and onward markets. Integrators FedEx, UPS and DHL operate alongside freight carriers such as Amerijet, Avianca Cargo and LATAM Cargo, linking San José with North America, South America and Europe. The free-trade zones (zonas francas) clustered around Alajuela and Coyol, where global medtech firms manufacture, feed export volume straight to the ramp. Road access runs via the General Cañas motorway and the Pan-American Highway, while the Pacific port of Caldera and the Caribbean port of Limón-Moín close the multimodal loop for containerised freight. One operational note: the airport sits at roughly 920 metres of elevation, which affects payload planning for heavily loaded freighters.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/juan-santamaria-international-airport-sjo](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/juan-santamaria-international-airport-sjo)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/juan-santamaria-international-airport-sjo](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/juan-santamaria-international-airport-sjo)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/juan-santamaria-international-airport-sjo/llm-summary*