August 25, 2007

Domestic Flights To Increase by 20%, Regional Airline Predicts

The regional airline Servicios Aéreos Nacionales S.A. (Sansa) estimates that the number of passengers flying within Costa Rica to the various tourist destinations will grow by 20% in relation to the past year.

The expected growth was confirmed by César Solís, Sansa's general manager, who said that by the end of 2007 the airline will have carried some 200.000 people.

Sansa is a division of TACA, which has daily flights through Central America, South America and the United States and Canada.

Solís explained that more and more people are preferring to fly to their destination within the country, saving on time and offering the ability to visit more locations.

For example, the travel time by land to Quepos/Manuel Antonio is 3 hours and 15 minutes, while the flight is only 20 minutes in duration.

Solí added that the airline will be purchasing four new airplanes bringing the fleet to 19. The airline uses 12 passenger Cessna Gran Caravan airplanes.

Sansa currently flies to all major destinations in Costa Rica from the Juan Santamaría (San José) international airport and in a number of cases with connections to the Daniel Oduber International airport in Liberia.

One of the new products being offered by the airline are direct flights to La Fortuna de San Carlos and with a connection to Liberia from San José.

The flight from San José to La Fortuna is only 25 minutes and tourists can be at the foot of the Arenal Volcano within ten minutes of landing.
Sansa operates 3 flights daily to San Carlos.

The Liberia connection is also very important for travellers to connect to international flights from San Carlos, which only costs us$30 one way and with a travel time of only 20 minutes instead of the two or more hours it takes by land.

Sansa currently has 16 local destinations including flights to Samara, Tamarindo, Quepos, Tortuguero and Palmar Sur.

Source: InsideCostaRica