There are nine airlines connecting our country with the U.S., our main tourist source market: Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska, American Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit, Sun Country, Frontier (as of July 1) and Southwest (as of June 6), informed the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.

Cesar Jaramillo, general manager of CORIPORT said in an official statement that as managers of the Daniel Oduber Quiros terminal they are "... excited to announce the return of Southwest Airlines starting June 6, which will fly daily from the city of Houston, in addition to a weekly operation from Baltimore to Guanacaste."

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Rafael Mencia, Executive Director of AERIS, administrator of the Juan Santamaria International Airport, explained that "... the return of Southwest is another example of the purpose outlined by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute with the support of AERIS, to recover the operations and airlines that connect the world with Costa Rica, through the Juan Santamaria Airport. This good understanding is what allows us to serve the airlines with excellence, strengthen connections with the main market of attraction for the country and thus offer passengers more travel alternatives between the SJO and the city of Houston."

In March, Costa Rica received 62,370 tourists from the United States, for a total of 135,490 people arriving from that country in the first quarter of 2021.
Southwest began its flights to Costa Rica in 2015, the first Central American destination it flew to, according to the official statement.

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More on this topic

Flights between Costa Rica and Holland Reactivated

April 2021

In the context of the economic reactivation, the airline KLM announced that as of June 29 they will resume three weekly flights on the usual Amsterdam-San José-Liberia-Amsterdam route.

KLM will fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays arriving at the Juan Santamaria International Airport at 1:05 p.m.

New Low Cost New York - San Jose Flights

June 2019

Starting November 1, Jet Blue Airlines will operate three direct flights per week between the U.S. city and the capital of Costa Rica.

This announcement is in addition to the one made last June 26 by American Airlines, which reported that from November 21 will begin to operate a new flight between San Jose and New York, and in December will begin the operation of another flight between Liberia and the U.S. city involved.

Los Angeles - Costa Rica Nonstop Flight

December 2015

From April 2016 the airline Southwest will operate a daily frequency between Los Angeles International Airport and Liberia, in the tourist province of Guanacaste.

The US-based airline said that flights will start operating in April 2016, and the tickets will be on sale earlier this year, but they are still waiting for approval from the government of Costa Rica.

New Flights from Houston and Baltimore to San Jose

January 2015

Southwest Airlines has announced it will be operating a daily flight between the capital of Costa Rica and the cities of Baltimore and Houston starting March and October 2015 respectively.

From a statement issued by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT):

The US carrier Southwest Airlines is not only backing Costa Rica having select it as the first destination in Central America in which has ventured, (being the first choice for an international flight with the Southwest brand), but has also done so forcefully, with the announcement of two new air routes.