German carrier, Lufthansa, announced today that it will include a direct Frankfurt – San Jose connection on its summer flight schedule for 2018.

Starting March 29, 2018, a non-stop Lufthansa flight will take off every Thursday and Saturday from Frankfurt to Costa Rica.

This is the seventh European airline to announce a direct connection to Costa Rica in the last three years. Lufthansa, one of Europe’s largest airlines, will soon join Volaris, Thompson (TUI), British Air, Air France, Edelweiss, KLM in providing service to Costa Rica.

At a ceremony held today at the National Theater, government officials, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute and the company announced that flights will be carried out on an Airbus A340-300, with 279 seats offering Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class.

Flight LH518 departs the Lufthansa Frankfurt hub at 1:45 p.m. and will arrive in San Jose late in the afternoon at 5:55 p.m. local time.

The return flight will take off from San Jose in the afternoon at 7:50 and land at Frankfurt Airport the next day at 3:10 p.m. with a flight time of approximately 11 hours.

The flight offers competition to the existing Condor flight which flies to Frankurt from San Jose via the Dominican Republic.

Present at the event was Tamur Goudarzi-Pour, Vice President of Sales for the Americas of the Lufthansa Group, who commented: “Beyond tourism, the Lufthansa Group offers a world of travel opportunities for both leisure and business travelers. From our Frankfurt center we offer more than 200 destinations to all corners of the world, linking Costa Rica and Costa Ricans to financial capitals across the European continent to Asia. The Lufthansa Group is not just an airline conglomerate, we are the world’s leading aviation company and we are proud to add Costa Rica to our network,” he concluded.

President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera stressed that Costa Rica has a defined, articulated and effective strategy that has borne fruit like never before, achieving in the last two years an unprecedented position in the main European markets: there are already eight Airlines flying to the Old Continent, seven of which have been added in recent years.

“The Costa Rican Government celebrates the great news that the prestigious German airline Lufthansa and one of the most important in the world, will fly for the first time to our country, opening a window of opportunities not only for the consolidation of the tourist destination in the European market but also for the development of business, the promotion of cultural exchange, exports and foreign trade, “said Solís

Likewise, Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism stressed that the ICT is working on the diversification of markets and the attraction of airlines represents the fundamental tool to strengthen connectivity.