The Cubans are ultimately bound for the United States, which has a longstanding policy of accepting them, in what they hope will be the successful conclusion to a months-long odyssey through South and Central America.
If their plane-and-bus trip is successful, other flights will follow as early as next week, transporting more of the 7,600 other Cubans stranded in Costa Rica.
The air bridge, organized by Latin American governments and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), became necessary when Costa Rica's northern neighbor Nicaragua -- a Cuban ally -- closed its border to Cuban migrants in mid-November.
The 180-strong group boarded a chartered aircraft in Liberia, a northern Costa Rican city near Nicaragua's border.
They arrived just over an hour later at El Salvador's international airport southeast of the capital San Salvador, disembarking with smiles and small bags.
Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez and immigration officials greeted them as they paid a $60 entry tax. Buses were waiting to take them to neighboring Guatemala with a police escort.
After crossing Guatemala, the Cubans were to be dropped off at the border with Mexico with 20-day visas to make their own way to the US border and to what they hope will be new lives in America.