New Airlines Offering More Flights to Costa Rica:
Costa Rica becoming the destination of choice as air traffic increases
Costa Rica is one of the premier countries in the world where real estate investments and tourism is rapidly increasing. As a result, several airlines have announced the opening of direct flights to Costa Rica from the United States and Europe.
Starting February 2008 Delta Airlines will offer direct flights from Costa Rica to New York City. There will be a daily flight and two on Saturdays and Sundays. Travelers from New York will no longer have to have a layover in Atlanta.
Beginning in November 2007, The first company to arrive will be Frontier Airlines. Frontier will be offering direct flights from Denver, Colorado.
Another company which officially communicated its willing to fly to Costa Rica is a French airline, Air Caraibes. Its first flight into Costa Rica will be on December 11, 2007.
Air Caraibes will be flying out of the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, (the French Antilles), which are the connecting centers to Paris and the rest of Europe. Air Caraibes will offer flights directly to the Caribbean Islands instead of having layovers in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Canadian airline, Air Sunwing, has requested its flight operations certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority. This North American airline is willing to offer charters, cargo and mail services.
Also, due to Costa Rica’s new diplomatic relationship with China, Air China has expressed interest in flying to Costa Rica.
Air Comet initiated its operations to Costa Rica on July 2, 2007 from Madrid-San José-Madrid, operating an Airbus A-330 with a maximum capacity of 298 passengers. This flight also offers connections to other important cities in Europe such as London, Paris, and Rome.
The air traffic at the International Juan Santamaría Airport increased by 30% in August, compared to last year, according to the statistics compiled by Alterra. The number of incoming and outgoing flights increased to 282,572, while in the same period of 2006, there were 216,037. This shows an increase of 66,535 additional flights.
According to the report of the Head Office of Civil Aviation, Taca is the company that shows a greater increase in the number of flights in August of 2007, with 24.2%, followed by Iberia with 24% and Delta with 17.2%.
