Spanish flag-carrier Iberia has announced plans to increase its capacity on flights between Madrid and San Jose in Costa Rica by 5.5 per cent, to offer a total of 234,000 seats this year. 

The carrier – part of International Airlines Group - will use A340-600 aircraft, which have an extra 100 seats each. 

Tourism minister Allan Flores said this is great news for the country as it would facilitate the arrival of more visitors from the main foreign markets in Europe, including the UK. 

Iberia flies daily between Madrid (Spain) and San Jose (Costa Rica), with a timetable that allows easy connections to and from 32 Spanish cities and 41 other European destinations. 

In 2011, nearly 186,000 passengers travelled on this route, 76.4 per cent of them connecting from another Spanish or European destination. 

Besides Spain, the UK is also an important market, with 29,894 visitors to Costa Rica in the first ten months of 2011.