Southwest Airlines announced that they would be launching new non-stop service from Los Angeles to Liberia, Costa Rica starting in April, 2015. Something to note is that since Southwest’s terminal at LAX doesn’t have immigration and customs, these flights will be operating from Terminal 2.

Per Southwest Airlines,

Beginning in April, Southwest Airlines will bring  LUV to the “international” of Los Angeles International Airport!  Daily service between LAX and Liberia/Guanacaste, Costa Rica will begin in April.  We don’t have a final schedule for the new service yet (international service takes time for approval!), but it’ll be a morning southbound departure and an evening arrival back at LAX.

Our LAX-Liberia/Guanacaste service will be our first operation out of Terminal 2 at LAX, right next to our current Terminal 1.  T1 doesn’t have Customs and Immigration, and T2 does—which requires the new service to operate “next door.” As the second-largest metropolitan area in America, Los Angeles offers a deep pool of travellers that love vacationing “south of the border.”  And because Californians are so environmentally conscious, I think they’re going to LUV taking the official airline of friendly faces and two free bags to the premier country of eco-tourism.  Pura Vida y’all!

This new service will be a GREAT complement to our international service from Orange County, just about 40 miles south of LAX—and the geography from NorCal and Las Vegas is essentially identical.  Californians are going to LUV having a better option to the West Coast of Costa Rica.  But after all, with service to nine California airports we have more intra-California flights than any other airline—so expanding our international footprint to include LAX is a natural!

Bottom Line

I’m excited to see this latest route announcement from Southwest, and can’t wait to see what other international routes they plan to launch from LAX in the future.