Avianca inaugurated a direct route that connects the Juan Santamaría International Airport, in Alajuela, with the capital of the United States, Washington D.C.
The first flight left this past Friday from our country with 100 passengers. The route will operate on Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, for a total of eight weekly flights (round trip). The airline did not report the schedules. The launch of this route is part of Avianca’s objective -launched in 2021- of opening 50 routes within three years.
Strengthening connectivity
“We know that travel is now a necessity, both for trade, tourism, the economy and for family ties. In response to these needs, we are strengthening our point-to-point connectivity and providing an attractive business proposition that fuses our 102-year history with the latest industry customization trends,” said Rolando Damas, Avianca Sales Director for North America. Central America and the Caribbean.
For its part, Aeris – operator of the air terminal in Alajuela – was pleased with this new route. This is due to the fact that only in the first five months of the year 570,634 passengers from the United States entered the country through the Juan Santamaría.
“For this reason, we celebrate the expansion of Avianca flights, which allows us to offer a new travel option to tourists in the city of Washington and continue to strengthen the national economy. This route is the result of good management between the public and private sectors, in which the airline, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and we participate as administrators of the main airport in Costa Rica,” said Ricardo Hernández, General Director of Aeris.
USA main source of tourists to Costa Rica
According to ICT data, during the first half of 2022 the entry of just over 690,000 Americans was registered. This places the northern nation as the main source market for tourists to Costa Rica.
Additionally, Washington, D.C. It is the sixth city in that country with the highest concentration of travelers with a high interest in traveling to Costa Rica, according to the latest ICT study of The Best Prospects in the United States of the year 2021.
“Undoubtedly, the improvement of air connectivity contributes to the strengthening of tourism from the United States, providing an additional boost to the recovery of the industry and the tourism figures prior to the start of the pandemic,” said Hermes Navarro, Head of Attraction of ICT investments.
So far in 2022, Avianca reported that it has transported more than 400,000 passengers on all its routes to and from Costa Rica.
