By Wendy Anders

In January expansion work is slated to begin at the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, said the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) this week.

The terminal’s upgrade will cost an estimated US$10.3 million and will be ready in November.

The new facilities are expected to give the airport sufficient capacity to handle the rise in passengers over the next 5 years, according to César Jaramillo, general manager of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (Coriport), the airport’s administrator.

In 2016, Liberia’s airport saw the arrival of 35 percent more visitors than in 2015, said the ICT.

The number of foreign arrivals at the airport has increased by 86 percent since 2012 when Coriport took over the management.

“Liberia’s airport is a Class B or very high quality airport. That means that the areas are spacious and comfortable, that customers experience short wait times to be checked in, and there is a diversity of shops,” he explained to Diario Extra, a Costa Rican Spanish paper.

The new facilities will provide more boarding gates, expanded check-in and luggage handling areas, and VIP lounges will be built on the second floor among other improvements, said the ICT.

At least five other airlines are expected to open flights to Liberia soon, said Jaramillo, and direct connections from Denver, Colorado and Mexico City will be launched in 2017.