Florida's Gulf Coast just got a straight shot to Costa Rica. Breeze Airways has launched the first nonstop flights between Tampa and San José in more than 25 years, with the inaugural landing at Juan Santamaría International Airport on Saturday, October 3, carrying over 100 passengers. A second flight followed on October 7, and the route now runs every Wednesday and Saturday.
Breeze — the low-cost carrier founded by JetBlue co-founder David Neeleman — is the only airline flying the route nonstop, using 137-seat Airbus A220s. The schedule is aimed at making the most of the day: depart Tampa at 6:40 a.m., land in Costa Rica at 7:55 a.m. local time, then turn around at 8:55 a.m. for a mid-afternoon arrival back in Florida. Total flight time is a bit over three hours.
Introductory one-way fares started at $129 when bookings opened in March, though prices move with demand — and as with most budget airlines, checked bags and seat selection cost extra on top of the base fare. Bookings go through Breeze's website and app.
The route matters on both ends. For Costa Rica, it adds capacity from the United States, by far its biggest source market: around 1.2 million Americans flew in between January and August 2026, according to the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT). The ICT worked with private-sector partners to attract the route and plans an advertising push in high-traffic Tampa locations from late October.
For Tampa Bay travellers, the big win is skipping the Miami or Fort Lauderdale connection. San José is Breeze's fifth international destination and its first in Central America. Tampa's airport also points to deeper ties: Costa Rica is Florida's ninth-largest trade partner and roughly 3,000 Costa Rican-born residents call the Tampa Bay area home.
The timing is handy too — the flights landed just as the northern winter season kicks off, peak time for escapes to Costa Rica's beaches, volcanoes and cloud forests. San José's airport is a practical gateway for heading to places like Arenal, Manuel Antonio or the Pacific coast, so a morning arrival means you can be at your hotel by lunchtime.
If you've been pricing Costa Rica trips from Florida and balking at the connection hassle, this is the simplest way to do it — and worth comparing against legacy carriers before fares settle into their new normal.
