During the celebration of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid, the Minister of Tourism of Costa Rica, Gustavo Segura, and the Commercial Director and Development of Iberia’s Network and Alliances, MaríaJesúsLópezSolás, have renewed an agreement to continue promoting this popular tourist destination in Central America through the network of 90 destinations offered by the company in Spain and Europe.
This commitment, which dates back to 2006, demonstrates Iberia’s commitment to high-performance tourism, a commitment to promoting service quality and the uniqueness of its natural heritage of flora and fauna.
The main European airline
Data obtained by Aviacionline through the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Costa Rica (DGAC) indicate that in 2019, Iberia was the main European airline in Costa Rica, where it mobilized 204,543 passengers and 4,975 tons of cargo.
The agreement between the Spanish airline and the Costa Rican Ministry includes promotion through Iberia channels, such as the on-board magazine Ronda Iberia, banners on its website and advertising on social networks, among others.
Further recovery in 2022
It should be noted that Costa Rica was the first country in Latin America to reopen its borders to tourism in 2020 (among those that closed it) after the first wave of COVID-19. This fact has turned the Central American country into one of the main vacation destinations, with the Costa Rican capital being one of the first long-distance destinations that Iberia recovered.
According to Aena Statistics, during 2021, on the Madrid (MAD) – San José (SJO) route, 134,918 passengers and more than 4,100 tons of cargo were mobilized in 626 air operations, with Iberia leading the market.
During the signing of the agreement, López Solás highlighted the potential of the route and hopes to recover the operation of daily flights that they offered prior to the pandemic. Iberia currently has six daily flights between Madrid and San José.
The company plans to offer more than 145,000 seats per year, and has scheduled the Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with a capacity of 288 passengers in 2 classes, 19 in Business Class and 269 in economy class. During the boreal winter season of 2019, Iberia also operated with the Airbus A350-900.
49th anniversary
“Next June we will celebrate the 49th anniversary of our first flight to Costa Rica, a destination that was also the first in Central America to link it with a direct flight. Since then, we have maintained our alliance that has strengthened, even more so, the historical ties that have always united us through our main strength: continuing to be the bridge to improve connectivity between this region and Europe”, commented María Jesús López Solás.
