JetBLue Airline completed its first non-stop flight to San Jose, Costa Rica on March 26th 2009.  Costa Rica is the first Central American destination for JetBlue where they offer a daily flight from Orlando, Florida. 

This is a significant event for tourism in Costa Rica because it is proof that the tourism sector is still growing while many other nations experience decreases. In addition, JetBlue adds many seats that were desperately needed to accomodate this tourism increase.

Without the extra seats from JetBlue tourism in Costa Rica will not be able to grow as fast as the demand. We mentioned in a previous article that Continental Airlines has plans to add more to their Costa Rican flight schedule later this year.  The JetBlue Embraer aircraft has a 100-person seat availability and departs Orlando at 10:05 am to arrive to Costa Rica at 11:18am.  Returning flights leave San Jose at 12:09pm and arrive Orlando at 5:19pm. Please verify these times with the carrier.

This news is a great moral boost to the tourism market which has been reorganizing itself since the Liberia airport opened up a few years ago in Guanacaste. Many people have not been able to understand that tourism is on the increase each year but traditional local markets have seen stagnation or reduction. For example, many Costa Rican hotels in the San Jose market used to cater to overnight travelers from the Guanacaste region who would stay the night before their airline departure. With the Liberia airport this is no longer necessary and has impacted this particular market segment.

Related posts:

1. JetBlue set to begin direct flights to Costa Rica
2. Continental Airlines increases routes to Costa Rica
3. Tourism in Costa Rica and Jaco continues to grow
4. Key Report for Costa Rica Property Investors
5. Costa Rica begins building bike paths in heavily traveled areas