US carrier SouthWest Airlines announces an increased service of flights to Costa Rica starting next year.
SouthWest Airlines has announced a new daily flight between Orlando, Florida and San José, Costa Rica. Starting on June 4, 2024, The flight from Orlando will take off at 11:30 am (US time) and land in San Jose at 12:45 pm (local time). The return flight from San Jose will leave at 8:55 am and arrive in Orlando at 2:15 pm (US time). The new route aims to serve the high demand for travel between Florida and Costa Rica.
SouthWest also said it was increasing its flights between San José and the cities of Baltimore and Denver next summer. These extra flights will operate on Saturdays and Sunday from June 4 to August 4. The aim is to make it easier for tourists to visit Costa Rica during the summer vacation season.
We hope to explore the Costa Rica skies and cuisine with you in the near future, Xavier! -Amanda pic.twitter.com/gDfpM43wz5
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 23, 2023
Costa Rica Tourism Minister William Rodriguez welcomed the announcement of these new flights to Costa Rica
“Air connectivity is fundamental to the development of our tourism sector,” he said. Rodriguez went on to say that he hopes to have welcomed some 2.5 million tourists to Costa Rica by the end of 2023. This would surpass pre-pandemic numbers of tourists arriving by air.
Ricardo Hernández from AERIS Holding, who manages Juan Santamaría Airport, also expressed his satisfaction.
“The strengthening of routes to Baltimore and Denver, and the new route to Orlando, represents a milestone for tourism and connectivity in our country. This is an example of the result of the joint work between the government and AERIS in contributing to tourism development. We are very pleased with Southwest for trusting Costa Rica as a destination, offering new opportunities for passengers to live the pura vida experience,” he said.
The United States is by far Costa Rica’s main tourist market. Almost 1,100,000 thousand American tourists visited Costa Rica between January and September of this year.
