Transaero Airlines, is the second mayor Russian airline, studying flying to new destinations in Latin America, particularly Costa Rica, according to company CEO, Olga Pleshakova.
The other airline is Aeroflot.
“The Latin American market is very important to us. We have been flying to Cancun ( Mexico ) and Dominican Republic during the past ten years,” said Pleshakova.
The airline is exploring new destinations Latin America after several years of expansion and according to Pleshakova is one of the new destinations of high interest to Russian tourists.
But the decision won’t be quick. Pleshakova said the decision will be made in 2015.
The interest of Russian airlines comes after last month’s announcement by Costa Rica authorities to eliminate the visa requirement for Russian nationals.
The elimination of visas is to increase Russian tourism and investments to Costa Rica. Russian nationals will have a maximum stay of 30 days as a tourist and can be extended to 90 days.
According to Tourism Board records, only 4,146 tourists from that Russia entered Costa Rica in 2013. According to former Tourism minister Allan Flores, a study by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) Russian tourists interested in visiting Costa Rica had annual incomes of more than US$120.000.
