Air France increases connectivity between France and Costa Rica

From December 10th, Air France will operate five weekly flights between Juan Santamaria’s International Airport in the Costa Rican capital San José and its hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, using the most modern aircraft in its fleet, the Airbus A-350.

Airbus A-350 (Credit: Air France)

Since the country reopened its borders closed due to the pandemic and commercial flights were restored, Air France has resumed flights to Costa Rica. With the easing of restrictions and the increase in demand for transporting passengers and cargo between Costa Rica and Europe, the airline has decided to increase the frequency of its weekly flights, which currently number three. Two additional frequencies will soon be added to offer five weekly flights between San José and Paris from December 2023 to May 2023. The Minister of Tourism, William Rodriguez, was keen to emphasise this excellent news, given the start of the high season and the objective of returning to a similar level of pre-pandemic traffic in 2023.

A clear objective for 2023

“The announcement is all the more relevant, moreover, as this airline is preferred by about half of French tourists arriving in our country,” said the Minister, before adding that the increase in Air France flights was in line with the seasonality of the French market, as it should be noted that most arrivals take place between January and April.

Antoine Cros, Air France and KLM Director for Panama, Central America and the Dominican Republic, said: “We are very pleased to be able to announce two new Air France frequencies from 10 December. With these additional flights, we exceed our pre-pandemic offer and achieve our dream of offering five direct Air France flights per week between Costa Rica and Paris. We are also proud that our customers will be able to experience travel on board an Airbus 350, the most modern and environmentally friendly aircraft in the Air France fleet, which has been available in Costa Rica since 28 June. From December, the Air France KLM Group will offer the Costa Rican market eight 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 data from the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism (ICT), from January to September, more than 45,000 French tourists visited the country. This figure positions France as the third most important European tourist market in Costa Rica.

Air France flight schedules to San José, from 10 December 2022* :

Air France will serve San José on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Flight AF431: departure from San José at 7.55pm and arrival in Paris at 1.10pm the following day.

Flight AF430 : departure from Paris at 1.10pm and arrival in San José at 5.40pm the same day.

*Schedules are given in local time. The flight schedule may be subject to change.

The Airbus A-350

The most modern aircraft in the Air France fleet, the Airbus A-350 has 324 seats, including 266 in Economy class, 34 in Business class and 24 in Premium Economy class. It has 30% larger windows, an optimised air pressurisation system and a cabin lighting system that adapts to different flight situations.

In Business Class, the seat turns into a real bed of 2 metres in length.

In Premium Economy, the new “Recliner” seats are 48 cm wide and can be reclined up to 124°, while Economy Class offers its passengers redesigned seats for greater comfort, with reinforced ergonomic cushions that can be reclined up to 118° and a seat pitch of 79 cm.

Each cabin is equipped with an individual high-definition touch screen.

The Airbus A-350 has Wi-Fi on board. Air France offers three types of packages to connect directly to the Internet with a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The Message Pass system is free of charge, allowing each passenger to communicate via instant messaging applications (e.g. WhatsApp, iMessage and WeChat).