Certain parts of Costa Rica do not have roads and are only accessible by air. Other parts have road access but are better accessed by air. Generally, you must or should fly if you want to go to:
Drake Bay (Osa Peninsula – South Pacific Coast);
Tortuguero Canal (Caribbean Coast).
While flying is generally faster than going by road, it still takes time. You must be at the airport at least 1 hour prior to departure time. When flying, you are limited to 25 pounds of luggage per person, TOTAL. This is not very much luggage!
2 small airlines fly within Costa Rica: Sansa and Nature Air. Both airlines have long track records for safety and reliability. Both airlines fly to and from San Jose only. Thus, if you want to fly anywhere in Costa Rica, you must begin and end in San Jose.
Sansa flies to and from the San Jose International Airport. Travelair flies from the Tobias Bolaños Airport in a suburb of San Jose. Both airlines fly small aircraft with a maximum capacity of about 10 people.