On June 29 Air France changed from Boeing 777 to Airbus A350-900 on the Paris (CDG) – San José (SJO) route and will have an offer of 1,944 seats per week. The French carrier will be the second European operator to fly this model to Costa Rica.
Flight AF 430 was operated by an A350 registered with the registration number F-HTYA and christened «Toulouse», the aircraft took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) at 14:15 local time and landed at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) at 16:40.
According to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, Costa Rica received 33,242 French tourists between January and May of this year, a recovery of 86.68% with respect to pre-pandemic levels.
Flight Itinerary
- Paris – San José de Costa Rica Flight AF 430 CDG 13:40 – SJO 16:55 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
- San José de Costa Rica – Paris Flight AF 431 SJO 19:15 – CDG 14:00+1 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Air France’s A350s have a seating capacity of 324 in three classes (34 Business Class/24 Premium Economy/266 Economy), the French airline currently owns a fleet of 18 models of this aircraft with a pending order for 20 units to be received in the coming years.
France is the second most important European market in Costa Rica: according to data compiled by Aviacionline through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), 112,365 passengers and 1,269.21 tons of cargo were mobilized between Paris (CDG) and San Jose (SJO) in 2019. Currently the French company is the only operator on this route.
See also: Air France to fly between Cayenne and Belem
Air France’s schedule in Latin America and the Caribbean on Airbus A350s
According to data obtained by Aviacionline through the Cirium platform, the French flag carrier will have an offer of 11,664 seats per week in 36 air operations on A350s between Paris (CDG) with Latin America and the Caribbean:
- Santiago de Chile (SCL) five flights per week.
- Lima (LIM) five flights per week.
- Havana (HAV) four flights per week.
- San Jose de Costa Rica (SJO) three flights per week.
