AUS Adds Nonstop Paris, Costa Rica Flights: Book Now

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport just had its biggest week of the year for anyone dreaming of a nonstop trip out of Central Texas. On August 13, Delta Air Lines announced it will launch daily nonstop service between Austin and Paris starting March 27, 2027, the airport's first-ever transatlantic flight. Tickets went on sale two days later, on August 15, at Delta.com. The route will fly an Airbus A330-900neo, Delta's long-haul flagship cabin, departing Austin at 3:15 p.m. and landing at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 8:15 a.m. the next morning, with the return leaving Paris at 10:10 a.m. and touching back down in Austin at 2:20 p.m. the same day. The Paris announcement lands on top of another new international route Southwest confirmed for AUS this summer: nonstop service to San Jose, Costa Rica, starting March 13, 2027. It flies once a week, Saturdays only, leaving Austin at 10:25 a.m. and arriving at Juan Santamaria International Airport by 2:05 p.m., with the return departing San Jose at 3:05 p.m. and landing back in Austin around 7:20 p.m. Southwest has been selling the route since the announcement, and the Saturday-to-Saturday schedule is built specifically so travelers can fly out and back on consecutive weekends for a clean weeklong Costa Rica trip. It becomes Southwest's fourth international nonstop out of Austin, joining the carrier's existing Mexico network, and Southwest's own network-planning team has called San Jose one of the standout markets in its international lineup. Neither of these routes is a one-off. Austin-Bergstrom finalized a new long-term lease agreement with its airline tenants earlier this year, five carriers including Southwest, Delta, American, United and Alaska, that locked in at least a decade of commitment from each and funds a roughly $5 billion, 32-gate expansion of the terminal, nearly doubling the airport's current gate count by the early 2030s. That expansion is why AUS has been on a route-announcement streak all year, and it is happening against a backdrop of real growth: June 2026 was the airport's busiest month on record, with more than 2.1 million passengers moving through its gates, according to KXAN Austin. So what should you actually do with this news? If a Europe trip is anywhere in your plans for spring 2027, price out the new Austin-Paris nonstop now rather than defaulting to a connection through Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston. New long-haul routes often carry competitive introductory fares in their first booking window, and a nonstop is worth real money in convenience even before you compare price, since it cuts out a connection and the risk of a missed bag transfer on an international itinerary. The same logic applies to Costa Rica: if you have been eyeing a Central America getaway, the new Saturday Southwest flight is worth checking against connecting options through Houston or Dallas, especially if your travel dates are flexible enough to fit its once-weekly schedule. Because both routes do not start flying until March 2027, there is no urgency to book this week purely to lock in a seat, but there is a real reason to at least check fares now: award seats and the lowest fare buckets on a newly announced route tend to move fastest right after launch, particularly for spring break and Semana Santa travel dates, which fall within days of both routes' start dates in March 2027. If your travel window overlaps with that period, checking pricing sooner rather than later is a reasonable hedge, even if you are not ready to commit to a booking yet. One more practical note for anyone flying through AUS in the meantime: the airport is mid-construction on the broader gate expansion tied to this growth, on top of already record-setting passenger volumes. That combination is worth an extra buffer at security and toward your gate for the next several years, not just on the days these two new routes debut. For Central Texas travelers, though, the bigger picture is straightforward: Austin is turning into a genuine international gateway in its own right, and for a growing list of destinations, you may no longer need to route through Dallas or Houston to fly nonstop out of the country. Sources Delta Air Lines Announces First-Ever Transatlantic Service from Austin to Paris - Austin-Bergstrom International Airport - https://www.flyaustin.com/news/delta-air-lines-announces-first-ever-transatlantic-service-austin-paris Southwest Airlines Announces New Nonstop International Destination for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport - Austin-Bergstrom International Airport - https://www.flyaustin.com/news/southwest-airlines-announces-new-nonstop-international-destination-austin-bergstrom Southwest Airlines Is Launching a New Nonstop Flight From Austin to San Jose, Costa Rica - Caribbean Journal - https://www.caribjournal.com/2026/08/03/southwest-airlines-costa-rica/ Austin Airport's New Airline ULA Sets Stage For $5B Expansion - Aviation Week Network - https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airports-networks/austin-airports-new-airline-ula-sets-stage-5b-expansion June was the busiest month ever recorded at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport - KXAN Austin - https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-airport/2026-aus-passenger-stats/