Travellers flying between Europe and Costa Rica will see a familiar route change hands at the end of 2027. Lufthansa announced on October 29 that it will stop flying its Frankfurt–San José service on December 13, 2027, with its leisure-focused sister airline Discover Airlines taking over the following day. The route isn't going anywhere — in fact, it's getting bigger, moving from five to six flights per week into Juan Santamaría International Airport.
There's one catch worth knowing before you book. Of those six weekly flights, only four will run nonstop between Frankfurt and San José. The other two will continue on to Belize City before heading back to Germany, so anyone flying from Costa Rica to Frankfurt should check whether their return leg includes that stopover.
The switch is the result of more than a year of talks between Lufthansa Group and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), which wanted the route operated by a carrier geared towards holidaymakers rather than general long-haul traffic. Discover Airlines, which flies from Frankfurt and Munich to tourist destinations, fits that brief. Because it sits within the same group, Frankfurt still works as a connecting hub for the rest of Europe and beyond, and Lufthansa remains the group's largest market here — Germany sent 54,794 visitors to Costa Rica between January and September 2026, up 8.1% year on year.
The planes are changing too. Discover plans to fly the route with the Airbus A350-900, its first arriving in June 2027 and a second in December, timed for the Costa Rica launch. That's a step up from the current equipment, and the timing is good: Lufthansa has already boosted this winter's Frankfurt service from three to five weekly flights, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with its newer Allegris cabins.
Why it matters: if you're planning a Costa Rica trip for late 2027 or beyond, the practical effect is more seats and a slightly split schedule rather than any loss of connectivity. Bookings for the Discover-operated flights will roll out as the airline updates its systems, and final details — including which legs get the Belize stop — could still shift before launch. Anyone with flexible dates should compare the nonstop and via-Belize options when fares appear.
