Direct trip
The first Southwest flight from Houston arrived last Friday.
Southwest Airlines, American-born Friday began operating a new daily flight between Costa Rica and the city of Houston, Texas, United States.
This is the second operation of the company with the same frequency as one longer works for the city of Baltimore, Maryland, in the northern region of the US east coast.
Costa Rica in recent months recorded the arrival of more air operations. Between November 2014 and June 2015, the country received 21 additional flights of new airlines, more frequencies and increased routes, according to a count made by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
Among the companies that have added or announced changes are Aeromexico, Condor (Germany), Cuban, United Airlines and Spirit.
In addition, Thomson Airways will fly from London to Liberia in November 2015, and British Airways announced it will open a direct operation between Costa Rica and London, as of May 4, 2016.
Two cities. Southwest flew for the first time on 7 March. Operation from Baltimore makes a plane with capacity for 143 people and is for 175 Houston.
Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism, said the direct flights to Houston are important because they represent a connection to a market potential tourists; that is, people who have a high interest in visiting Costa Rica; also they are experienced travelers with high income.
According to data of ICT, in the state of Texas you are 7.3% of what is considered as the potential tourist market for Costa Rica, a percentage equivalent to a population of about two million people.