Avianca drops San José-Miami nonstop flight

Colombia-based airline Avianca will cancel its nonstop San José-Miami flights starting Jan. 16, according to Director of Corporate Affairs Claudia Arenas.

The measure was taken as part of “an optimization of the global routing network,” Arenas stated Friday in a press release.

“Avianca assessed the route’s sustainability in the medium and long term,” she said. “The final decision was based on profitability and the ability to provide our customers with quality service.”

For those Avianca customers who travel between the two cities, the change means switching to the airline’s one-stop daily flights which connect in San Salvador.

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) was aware of the carrier’s decision, the agency’s head of Tourism Management Hermes Navarro told The Tico Times. Navarro said that affect on Costa Rica will be minimal. The Florida market is well-saturated with flights to Costa Rica.

“The strong [travelers’] market we have from Florida already is being served not only by American Airlines daily flights, but also by JetBlue and Spirit flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando,” he said.

Last May, Avianca also dropped five nonstop routes from Costa Rica and layed off 261 employees in the country. The measure prompted Costa Rican officials including Tourism Minister Allan Flores to meet with Avianca representatives in Colombia one month later.

At the time, Avianca President Fabio Villegas told minister Flores that the airline would not cancel any more flights to Costa Rica. He also said local jobs were secure.

Customers who currently own tickets for nonstop flights between San José-Miami will be rescheduled to other Avianca flights according to availability in the new itinerary. But they also may request for full or partial refund, the airline stated in a press release.

For more information, contact the airline’s call center in Costa Rica at 2299-8222 or in the U.S. at 1-800-284-2622.