German carrier Lufthansa announced that it will fly nonstop between Frankfurt and Costa Rica twice a week starting on March 29, 2018.
The flights will depart from the German city on Thursdays and Saturdays and will arrive at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela.
Vice President of Sales for the Americas Tamur Goudarzi-Pour confirmed the launch of the new route at a press conference on Thursday in San José. President Luis Guillermo Solís and Minister of Tourism Mauricio Ventura attended the event held at the National Theater.
The airline has begun promoting the new route to the “green paradise of Central America.”
This is Lufthansa’s second nonstop connection to the region; it also flies direct between Frankfurt and Panama.
President Solís said that the route opens “a window of opportunities” not only for tourism, but also “for businesses, cultural exchange, and foreign trade.”
Nonstop Europe
The new fight will bring the number of weekly nonstop routes to Europe to eight.
In addition to Lufthansa, the list of carriers offering nonstop routes include British Airways to London, Air France to Paris, Edelweiss to Zurich, Thomson to London, KLM to Amsterdam, and Condor to Frankfurt and Munich.
Minister Ventura said during the presentation that the new connection is part of the Costa Rican Tourism Board’s strategy to diversify markets and connections. Ventura said Germany is the second-largest source of tourists from Europe and represents an estimated market of nearly 2 million prospective visitors who consider Costa Rica an ideal destination for their vacations.
He recalled that the Lufthansa Group launched operations in Costa Rica in May with a Zurich-San José flight from Edelweiss Air.
“This new flight motivates us to continue working to position Costa Rica as a magnet for investment and as a preferred destination for airlines,” Ventura said.
