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Costa Rica Courts Major European Air Carriers // ICT Eyes Scheduled Flights, Favors Britain and Germany
The Costa Rican government is in direct negotiations with at least four European air carriers, pushing them to offer scheduled, non-stop flights to Costa Rica, and in particular to Guanacaste’s Daniel Oduber International Airport.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, confirmed this week he was in talks with Spanish, German, British and at least one Italian carrier, hoping they will offer direct flights to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

The Dutch are also said to be interested.

“We have started talks directly with the airlines,” Mr Benavides told The Beach Times. “I am not talking about sending representatives between us; I am talking directly to these people.”

The most recent negotiations took place in Berlin, about two months ago, during the International Tourism Exchange, known as ITB Berlin. Mr Benavides led a Costa Rican delegation to what is the biggest tourism trade show in the World.

There were discussions with carriers from Germany, Britain and Italy, although Mr Benavides declined to name specific airlines.

Mr Benavides indicated he favored a carrier from either Germany or from the United Kingdom “because they have been the most serious about our conversations.”

The Costa Rican negotiations are concentrating upon scheduled flights, rather than air charter companies.

“I am mainly working with scheduled flights,” Mr Benavides said. “They are offering a product that represents something more long-term, more stable for the tourism market. It is a product we can count upon.

“It doesn’t mean we are ignoring charter flights, far from it,” the minister said.

“But sometimes a destination starts with air charter companies, and moves on.”

The Minister’s comments came after a ceremony at Daniel Oduber Airport Monday where he and other tourism and business leaders welcomed the first direct charter flight from Europe, a First Choice Airlines Boeing 767-300 from London’s Gatwick Airport.

The arrival of 258 passengers direct from London (see story page 12) is a major breakthrough for the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT), and represents about two years work for both the airline and the Costa Rican government.

“This is very important,” Mr Benavides said. “Of course we have to look out for our largest market --- the North Americans --- but it would be a very big mistake if we did not pay attention to the Europeans.”

“It’s a new door that opens to Guanacaste to communicate with Europe,” said Alvaro Conejo, President of the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism.

“We have great expectations as to the arrival of other airlines coming from Europe,” he said. “We know there is interest from Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.”

In fact Iberia, Spain’s biggest transport group and the fourth biggest in Europe, has already said it will fly into San José Juan Santamariá Airport in July. Further, the ICT has been in talks with Air Comet, the ten-year-old, Madrid-based carrier which operates long-haul flights to a dozen destinations in Central and South America. It too, is eyeing San José.

The European route is potentially hugely lucrative, particularly for those airlines bold enough to pioneer the route. Given the size of Europe, any scheduled carrier is likely to pull passengers from neighboring countries. Passengers from Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Britain, Italy and Spain, could all reasonably pick up a flight from a single European city.

Delta Airlines, for example, pioneered direct flights to Liberia from the US in December of 2002, and quickly grew to daily schedules, last year ferrying more than 100,000 passengers between its Atlanta, Georgia hub and Liberia.

Delta, once the leader in Liberia, has been overtaken by Continental Airlines. Last month 37,869 passengers went through the airport. Delta carried 10,299 of them, Continental 14,268. American Airlines is the third biggest carrier.

“The first year after Delta arrived, another three airlines followed,” said Mr Conejo. “We feel that it is reasonable to assume that a similar situation can happen with the Europeans.”

The Europeans will also be looking for a way around flights that currently go via the United States.
Stringent security, long lines for check-in and immigration, and custom clearance even for transiting passengers have made the United States a less than palatable experience for international travelers.

“It is true,” conceded Minister Benavides. “There are many people and many airlines who just don’t want to fly through the US.”

And while the ICT continues to actively promote Costa Rica to the Europeans, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) is working to ensure Liberia Airport’s beleaguered facilities can cope with the increased passengers.

Last week the government invited more than 100 investors, airlines and construction companies to a presentation in Escazú, where details of a concession document for a new terminal at Liberia were outlined.

The Concessions Vice-Minister, Luis Diego Vargas, told the meeting he expected to have the final concession document ready mid-way through next month. Offers would be evaluated in the following six months and the contract with the selected company would be signed early in 2008.

The successful bidder will then have 12 months to complete the first phase of the project.

More than 20 companies around the world have shown interest in the job, according to Guillermo Alvarez, of the Consejo Técnico de Aviación Civil (the country’s board of Civil, or CETAC).

The winning bidder will build a 15,000-square meter facility, air-conditioned and capable of processing 15,000 people per hour. At its busiest (Saturdays between 11:45 am and 2:30 pm), the airport currently sees about 700 people in an hour.

The new terminal, costing about $13 million, will cater for up to a million passengers a year, the number of passengers expected to arrive at Liberia by 2017, according to Civil Aviation estimates of a ten per cent increase in passengers annually for the next five years.

A second stage includes a 12,000 square meter construction and a bigger runway, scheduled to be ready by 2011.
Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:03 PM by Carlos Robles

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