As a result of a negotiation led by the ICT, the British airline TUI Airways will resume its flights from England to Guanacaste once a week from November 1, 2023 and will extend during the 2024 high season. The flight will originate at the
Airport London Gatwick International on Wednesdays in a Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner aircraft, with a capacity of 345 seats configured as follows: 63 in business class and 282 seats in economy class.
"The return of TUI Airways will strengthen the Guanacaste destination and boost tourism to the country at the start of the 2023 high season through an additional and direct connection to the Old Continent," said Hermes Navarro, head of investment attraction at ICT.
“We are pleased to announce the return of TUI to Guanacaste in November 2023, which implies a short service interruption of only eight months. This is a positive sign that reinforces Guanacaste as an international destination. The restoration of the route that connects London Gatwick with Guanacaste, both airports operated by VINCI Airports, is very important to strengthen our presence in Europe. We are working on finding more routes to new destinations,” said César Jaramillo, General Manager of CORIPORT, Guanacaste Airport concessionaire.
The arrival of TUI Airways joins the 15 airlines that currently arrive at Guanacaste Airport and connect that province to 23 international destinations. TUI Airways is the only airline that directly connects Guanacaste with Europe.
Guanacaste received TUI Airways in November 2021 after a 20-month hiatus due to the pandemic. Between March and November of this year the airline will not fly for reasons of operating costs.
During January and February of this year, 17,038 tourists from the United Kingdom visited us, exceeding the figures for the same period in 2019. The
United Kingdom is our second source of tourists from Europe, surpassed by France.
By all means, 490,525 tourists have arrived in the country in the first two months of 2023 by air.