Civil Aviation Technical Council renews Coopesa's certificate for 15 years

The Civil Aviation Technical Council ratified the 15-year renewal of the operating certificate of the Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aero Industriales de responsabilidad limitada (Coopesa) to provide OMA-MRAC-145 aeronautical workshop services. The decision is contained in agreement CTAC No. 141-2026, from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, published in La Gaceta No. 216 on Friday, November 13, 2026, pages 7 to 10, with official reference IN202601138779.

The act was approved through the seventeenth article of ordinary session No. 28-2026, held on October 29, 2026, and bears the signature of Marco López Volio, ad hoc president of the Civil Aviation Technical Council. The body thus ratified two actions of the Department of Operational Safety and Aviation Security: official letter DGAC-DSO-OF-0105-2026 dated June 25, 2026, which granted a second provisional operating permit for three months starting July 27, 2026, and resolution 10-2206 at 2:00 p.m. on July 21, 2026, which authorized the renewal of the certificate.

From the application to the public hearing

Coopesa, with legal entity ID 3-004-045086 and represented by Rimsky Buitrago García as general proxy, submitted the renewal application through the document registered under window consecutive 01822-2025-E on September 24, 2025. It also requested a provisional permit to continue operating while the merits of the matter were resolved.

The original certificate had been granted by resolution No. 29-2011 on April 25, 2011, and was valid until April 25, 2026. Upon expiration, the administration issued a first provisional permit starting April 26, 2026, and a second starting July 27, 2026.

The public hearing notice was published in La Gaceta No. 78 on April 29, 2026, and the hearing was held at 10:00 a.m. on May 26, 2026, with no oppositions presented. The Airworthiness and Air Transport units of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation reported that they had no technical objection; their reports were signed by Luis Jiménez Campos and Víctor Meneses Sánchez in the first case, and by Sandra Carranza Vega and Cristian Chinchilla Montes in the second.

Fifteen years and four service modalities

The renewal was granted for a term of 15 years starting from its approval, with its base of operations at the Juan Santamaría International Airport. The enabled scope includes:

• Aircraft (A), at the Juan Santamaría (base and line maintenance) and Daniel Oduber Quirós (line maintenance) international airports.
• Engines (B).
• Components (C).
• Specialized services (D).

All of this according to what is established by the operational authorizations and limitations. The company’s offices are located at Juan Santamaría Airport, with the telephone number +506 2437-2800, the website coopesa.com, and postal box 24-4060.

Obligations, guarantee, and remedies

The applied legal framework is the General Civil Aviation Law, Law No. 5150 of May 14, 1973, together with the Regulation for the granting of operating certificates (Executive Decree No. 3326-T) and Executive Decree No. 37972-MOPT, published in La Gaceta No. 205 on October 24, 2013. The agreement also invokes ICAO regulations and Article 10, subsection I) of the law, which attributes to the Council the granting and extension of these certificates.

Among the imposed conditions are:

• Having the appropriate organization, control method, operations surveillance, and instruction and maintenance programs consistent with the scope of the specifications.
• Providing a guarantee equivalent to two months of operations, within fifteen business days following the granting of the certificate.
• Signing and maintaining valid insurance contracts and submitting the sworn statement of data for billing.
• Commencing operations in the cited services, pursuant to Article 153 of the law.

The resolution states that, in the query to the delinquency system of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund conducted on September 11, 2026, Coopesa appears to be up to date with that institution, the Social Development Fund and Family Allowances (Fodesaf), the Mixed Institute of Social Aid (IMAS), and the National Learning Institute (INA). The act was notified to the proxy by email and communicated to the Financial, Air Transport, Airworthiness, and Legal Counsel units; a motion for reconsideration may be filed against it within a period of fifteen business days, according to Article 309 of the General Civil Aviation Law.

The decision clears the way for the continuity of the country’s main aeronautical maintenance workshop, which for more than seven months operated with chained provisional permits and now has a fifteen-year horizon to plan investments, personnel training, and contracts with the airlines that depend on its services at Juan Santamaría Airport.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 216 of November 13, 2026, Miscellaneous Documents, pp. 7-10 (official reference: IN202601138779).