Leaves are barely beginning to bud here in Dallas, but in Network Planning our thoughts are on Columbus Day, college football, and Libran birthdays.
Today we opened the Southwest and AirTran schedules out for sale through November 1, giving us 242 days of bookable inventory. No full city conversions this time, but we continue the gradual conversion of AirTran’s San Juan service by eliminating AirTran’s daily nonstop roundtrips between San Juan and Ft. Lauderdale, replacing them with TWO daily roundtrips on Southwest. We’ve got several other market changes to tell you about, both permanent and seasonal, so please read on!
On September 29, Southwest will add new daily nonstop roundtrip service between Atlanta and San Diego, between Nashville and Pittsburgh, between Jacksonville, Florida and Chicago/Midway. And we’ll also add our first service from Des Moines to the West with the addition of daily nonstop roundtrips to Las Vegas! The new Des Moines-Las Vegas service is timed for hotel checkin and checkout at your favorite Vegas mega-resort as well as for excellent connections at McCarran International for travelers to or from Iowa’s capital. Other markets being added on a seasonal basis are nonstops between Orlando and both Indianapolis and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Nonstop service will be discontinued in five seasonal markets—Seattle/Tacoma to Atlanta, Nashville, and Seattle, between Cleveland and Las Vegas, and between Chicago/Midway and Reno. Nonstops will be permanently eliminated in the El Paso-San Diego market. However, all six of the discontinued markets will continue to have direct or connecting Southwest service.
The AirTran route network continues to evolve as well with the addition of new seasonal service between Columbus and Ft. Myers, and between Ft. Lauderdale and Pittsburgh. We’ll also add seasonal service between Orlando and both Houston/Hobby and New Orleans, which will supplement long-existing Southwest nonstop service in those markets. We’ll discontinue seasonal AirTran service between Orlando and Kansas City and between Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, but we’ll continue to offer connecting service in those markets on both AirTran and Southwest.
Looking ahead, our next big schedule extension is one worth planning for. We’ll roll out the November schedules (which will include Thanksgiving!) planned to open for sale on May 6, but that date may change, so please check back frequently on
southwest.com. But in the meantime—be thinking about where AirTran and Southwest can take you in October. From “leaf peepin’” in New England to sea lion watching in California, we can get you there. Happy booking, folks—and have a GREAT week!
