SANSA (Servicios Aéreos Nacionales S.A.) is a regional airline based in San José, Costa Rica. It operates scheduled passenger services as part of the former TACA Regional system, and was a subsidiary of Avianca Holdings. Its main hub is Juan Santamaría International Airport.

History

The airline was established in 1978 as a domestic subsidiary of LACSA.

Destinations

thumb|A SANSA [[Cessna 208B Grand Caravan at Quepos La Managua Airport in 2015]]

The destinations of SANSA are:

As of 2026, the airline operates 13 domestic flights and 2 international flights to the neighboring countries including Managua, Nicaragua and Bocas del Toro, Panama

{|class="sortable wikitable

!Country

!City

!Airport

!Notes

!class="unsortable"|Refs

|-

|rowspan=18|||Bahía Drake||Bahía Drake Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Barra del Colorado||Barra del Colorado Airport||||

|-

|Coto 47||Coto 47 Airport||||

|-

|Golfito||Golfito Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|La Fortuna||La Fortuna Arenal Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Liberia||Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Limón||Limón International Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Nosara||Nosara Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Palmar Sur||Palmar Sur Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Puerto Carrillo||Carrillo Airport||||

|-

|Puerto Jiménez||Puerto Jiménez Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Punta Islita||Punta Islita Airport||||

|-

|Quepos||Quepos La Managua Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|San Isidro de El General||San Isidro de El General Airport||||

|-

|San José||Juan Santamaría International Airport||||

|-

|Tamarindo||Tamarindo Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Tambor||Tambor Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Tortuguero||Tortuguero Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|||Bocas del Toro||José Ezequiel Hall International Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|rowspan=2|||Managua||Augusto C. Sandino International Airport||align=center| ||

|-

|Tola||Costa Esmeralda Airport||||

|-

|}

Fleet

Current fleet

thumb|SANSA's operations area at [[Juan Santamaría International Airport, next to the main terminal]]

As of September 2022, the SANSA fleet includes:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; text-align:center"

|+ SANSA fleet

|-

!Aircraft

!In service

!Orders

!Passengers

!Notes

|-

|Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

|10

|—

|14

|

|-

!Total

!10

!—

!colspan=2|

|}

Former fleet

  • 1 Boeing 737-300 (Leased from Islandsflug)
  • 3 Douglas C-47 Skytrain
  • 3 CASA C-212 Aviocar

Accidents and incidents

  • On April 19, 1984, a Douglas C-47 (registered TI-SAA), charter flight coming from San Andrés, Colombia crashed on "Cerro Santa Rosa" (northwest face of the Irazú Volcano), with the death of all 4 people on board.
  • On January 16, 1990, SANSA Flight 32 crashed into the Cerro Cedral, a mountain in Costa Rica, after takeoff from Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José. All 20 passengers and 3 crew on board died in the crash.
  • On August 26, 2000, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan crashed into the Arenal Volcano, an active volcano in Costa Rica. The Cessna Caravan took off from Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José at 11:38, for a flight to Tamarindo. An intermediate stop at La Fortuna was made at 11:55 to drop off a Japanese tourist. The flight left La Fortuna again at 12:05 for a 35-minute flight to Tamarindo. The aircraft collided with the active 5380 feet (1650 m) high Arenal volcano, at around 656 feet (200 m) below the crater. All 8 passengers and 2 crew on board died in the crash.
  • On November 28, 2001, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan crashed into the Cerro Chontal, a mountain in Costa Rica. The aircraft crashed into a wooded hillside of the Cerro Chontal approximately four minutes before it was expected to land. The aircraft appeared to be off the usual approach track for Quepos. Both crew members and 1 passenger died; 5 passengers survived the crash and were rescued the next day.

References

  • Official website