As of December 10th, Air France will operate five flights a week between the Juan Santamaría international airport in the city of San José and the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub, in the most modern aircraft in its fleet, an Airbus 350.
Since the country reopened its borders closed by the pandemic and commercial flights were restored, Air France has resumed its flights to Costa Rica. As restrictions eased and the demand for passenger travel and cargo transportation between Costa Rica and Europe increased, the company increased its flights to offer the three weekly flights it currently operates. Soon, it will increase two frequencies to offer 5 weekly flights between San José and Paris, from December to May 2023.
Excellent news
William Rodríguez, Minister of Tourism, stated that this is “excellent news for the start of the high season and the goal we have set for ourselves of recovering the visitation figures prior to the pandemic before the end of 2023.”
The tourism chief added that Air France’s increase in frequencies coincides with the seasonality of the French market, whose highest number of arrivals occurs between January and April. “The announcement is particularly relevant, moreover, given that this airline is preferred by approximately half of the French tourists who arrive in our country,” he concluded.
For his part, Antoine Cros, manager of Air France and KLM for Panama, Central America and the Dominican Republic, stated: “We are very happy to be able to announce two new Air France frequencies as of December 10. Thanks to these additional flights, we exceed our pre-pandemic offer and fulfill the dream of offering five direct Air France flights a week from Costa Rica to Paris.
Environmentally efficient aircraft
In addition, we are proud that our customers can enjoy the experience of traveling in an Airbus 350, the most modern and environmentally efficient aircraft in the Air France fleet, available in Costa Rica since June 28 of this year. Starting in December, the Air France KLM group will offer the Costa Rican market 8 weekly flights to Europe via Paris or Amsterdam, and from there, connections to more than 120 destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia”.
According to the most recent ICT data, between January and September, more than 45 thousand French tourists visited the country by air, consolidating France as the third source market for European tourists to Costa Rica.
Basic data
Air France flight schedules to San José, starting December 10, 2022*
Air France will operate to San José on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Flight AF431: leaves San José at 7:55 p.m. and arrives in Paris at 1:10 p.m. the next day.
Flight AF430: leaves Paris at 1:10 p.m. and arrives in San José at 5:40 p.m. the same day.
*Hours in local time. Flight schedule subject to change.
