COSTA RICA NEWS – A little more than two months after launching its first international service, Southwest Airlines Co. announced plans Friday to expand its network to Central America, with daily service between Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International (BWI) and San José’s Juan Santamaria International (SJO) airports.
The service will begin March 7, 2015.
Southwest launched its first international flights on July 1 and will be flying to seven non-U.S. cities by the end of the year as it absorbs merger partner AirTran Airway’s destinations.
“We’re ready to add the adventure and beauty of Costa Rica to a growing horizon of international possibility available to the more than 100 million customers who fly with us each year,” chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said in Southwest’s announcement.
At 2,070 miles, the Baltimore-Costa Rica flight will be the longest in Southwest’s international system, surpassing the current title holder, Baltimore-Aruba at 1,890 miles. It’ll also surpass the 1,970-mile flight from Chicago to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, that Southwest will launch on Nov. 2.