They say getting there is half the fun, and with a brand-new, private plane, the fun is about to get a lot faster.  Böëna Wilderness Lodges now offers air service in a state-of-the-art, high-performance Cessna Caravan turboprop airplane, which we will be using to fly clients to our five luxury ecolodges all over Costa Rica.

Clients can reserve their flights directly through Böëna, allowing a seamless travel experience from Costa Rica’s two international airports in San José or Liberia to any of our destinations. You can also reserve the plane for service to other popular destinations, like Arenal or Liberia.

We operate luxury ecolodges in some of Costa Rica’s most beautiful places — Tortuguero, Monteverde, the Pacuare River and the Osa Península. The remoteness of our locations is a big part of their appeal, but it doesn’t necessarily make them easy to get to. Now it’s a short hop by air from your point of arrival to our jungle lodges, with door-to-door service where all the transportation is taken care of.

We are thrilled with the professional, experienced pilots we found to do the driving. Allan Wiessel and Silvia Villalobos have more than 10,000 hours of flight time between them, and they know Costa Rica like nobody else.



Wiessel has nine years of experience flying air taxis and charters in Costa Rica, plus he spent six years working in executive aviation in Central America, México, the Caribbean and the U.S. He has 5,900 hours of flight time (5,300 as captain) and is a trainer of air taxi pilots.

Villalobos has been a commercial pilot for 12 years, flying the Cessna Grand Caravan all over Costa Rica on charter and ambulance flights. She has even flown the Airbus 320 on international commercial flights.



“I dreamed of being a pilot ever since I remember,” said Silvia. “When I was 4 years old I flew for the first time, and my father asked permission for me to see the cockpit. It was really impressive to me to see all those buttons and lights, but what was most memorable was that the pilot was wearing a Batman mask and cape.” (Nothing inspires confidence like knowing that Batman is flying the plane.)



Some specs on this new airship:

Cessna Caravan 

• Manufacturer: Textron Aviation (HQ in Wichita, Kansas)
• Brand: Xplore Air
• 2 pilots
• 6 passengers
• Capacity for 30 pounds of luggage per person



The cockpit features a state-of-the-art Garmin 1000 electronic flight instrument system with LCD screens that display information about the weather, nearby air traffic and the ground below.

These features greatly augment the situational awareness of the crew. The plane’s synthetic vision system provides real-time 3D graphics of the terrain below based on mapping and satellite info, allowing pilots to see the ground even in adverse weather conditions.



All the information the pilot needs is shown on a Primary Flight Display (PFD), providing a range of critical information, including altitude, airspeed, temperature, fuel, navigation and communication frequencies, estimated time of arrival and alternate landing options. The Garmin 1000 system informs the pilot of any potential hazards using visual and audible alerts in case preventive action is needed.



Getting there

So how does this work? Your international flight will arrive in San José (actually Alajuela) or Liberia. If your flight arrives by night, we can help you find lodging at a local hotel, but if you arrive by day we can usually provide a flight to your final destination right away:

Tortuga Lodge: Tortuguero, on the northeast Caribbean coast, has an airport directly across a canal from our hotel.

Pacuare Lodge: We’ll land at an airport in Guapiles, and from there it’s about a one-hour drive to our lodge.

Lapa Rios: We fly into the regional capital of Puerto Jiménez, and from there it’s about a 40-minute drive to our lodge on the tip of the Osa Península.

Monteverde Lodge & Gardens and Cloud Forest Lodge: The Monteverde area is serviced by an airport in Aranjuez, about an hour away by car.

By the way, you can also choose to fly from one lodge to another, like from Pacuare to Tortuguero, or from Monteverde to the Osa, for a multi-destination experience. And when it comes time to say goodbye, of course we’ll fly you back to the international airport on time.

At Böëna, protecting the environment for future generations is at the heart of everything we do. The CO2 emissions generated by Xplore Air by Böëna flights are compensated through the National Forestry Financing Fund’s (FONAFIFO) Travelers Against Climate Change Program (VCC).

FONAFIFO manages Costa Rica’s Payments for Environmental Services Program (PPSA), which in turn, is financed by multiple fundraising strategies, including the VCC Program. Together these initiatives help support Costa Rica’s sustainability initiatives and efforts to attain carbon neutrality.



Call Böëna Wilderness Lodges toll-free at 1-800-963-1195, or email us at info@boena.com, to inquire about booking your flight.

You’re going to arrive in style!