Ryanair to launch Central American affiliate in 2016
 

Ryanair has announced plans to launch a LCC affiliate in Central America next year with its hub at SJO. The airline will be called Viva Can and will be a subsidiary of Irelandia Aviation, Ryanair's holding company, much like Viva Colombia and Mexico's Viva Aerobus presently are. It should bring some needed airfare competition to the AV-CM stranglehold that exists within Central America. We're currently paying starting fares of ~$300 r/t SJO-MGA-SJO, a 45-min. flight one-way. Granted AV manages to serve food on that flight, which Viva Can will not do, at least not for free.

The press seems surprised that Irelandia would choose Costa Rica, since salaries, benefits, and taxes skew higher here than elsewhere in Central America. But Declan Ryan himself was here for the announcement.n

The target date is July 2016 for beginning service.

From today's La Nación (in Spanish):

Aerolínea de bajo costo pondrá en Costa Rica su base para volar a Centroamérica

Interesting development.... i agree that flights in the region are way to expensive at the moment. Not that I need LCC but a normal price for a normal airline would be nice!