British Airways now flies nonstop between London Heathrow and Costa Rica five times a week, and for the first time the route will run all year instead of shutting down after the high season. Flight BA233, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, landed at Juan SantamarÃa International Airport at 4:40 p.m. on Sunday with more than 200 passengers on board. The arrival also marked 10 years since British Airways began flying to Costa Rica.
The service replaces the airline’s previous flights from London Gatwick, a change first announced in March when British Airways expanded its Costa Rica flights from London. Heathrow is the airline’s main hub, which makes one-stop connections to cities across Europe and beyond much easier. The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and AERIS, the company that operates Juan SantamarÃa, have said British Airways offers direct flights to more than 130 destinations from Heathrow.
Through March 2027, flights operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. From April through September 2027, the schedule drops to three flights a week, but the route keeps running through the European summer rather than pausing, as confirmed when British Airways made Costa Rica a year-round London route in September.
On the winter schedule, the flight leaves Heathrow at 11:10 a.m. and lands in San José at 4:40 p.m. local time. The return departs Juan SantamarÃa at 6:40 p.m. and arrives in London at 10:50 a.m. the next day. The 787-8 seats 204 passengers across three cabins: Club World with the Club Suite, World Traveller Plus premium economy, and World Traveller economy.
The United Kingdom is Costa Rica’s third-largest source of European visitors. According to the ICT, 47,753 British tourists arrived by air between January and August 2026. Air arrivals from all of Europe reached 319,552 over the same period, an increase of 8.8%. ICT Executive President Marcos V. Borges said consolidating the year-round operation is a significant step forward for Costa Rica’s tourism competitiveness and its international positioning.
Ricardo Hernández, CEO of AERIS, said the strengthened route reflects how important air connectivity is to Costa Rica’s tourism and economic development. He added that year-round service and the move to Heathrow will widen travel options between Costa Rica, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.
Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ chief planning and strategy officer, said a year-round schedule between Heathrow and San José gives customers greater flexibility. The ICT has also said the switch to Heathrow will improve air cargo capacity between Costa Rica and Europe, which matters for exporters who ship perishable goods in the holds of passenger aircraft.
The new schedule is the result of negotiations between British Airways, the ICT and AERIS. The airline first flew to Costa Rica in 2016 and the London service now joins a growing list of nonstop flights to Costa Rica.
