(Reuters) – Costa Rica was forced to close its airspace and suspend flights at international airports on Wednesday after a power outage hit a radar system, Deputy Civil Aviation Director Luis Diego Saborio told Reuters.
The nationwide shutdown disrupts travel through the hub, which often serves to connect flights to the rest of Latin America, and within the tourism-reliant country itself.
International airports Juan Santamaria, outside of capital San Jose, and Daniel Oduber Quiros, in the province of Guanacaste, were impacted, the transport ministry said.
“The whole airspace of the country has been affected,” the ministry added.
At Juan Santamaria, airport operator Empresa Aeris reported that eight outbound commercial flights were delayed and one arriving flight was diverted.
According to the ministry, crews were working to restore power with the goal of stabilizing operations by mid-day. Officials have not yet provided details on the cause of the outage.
