Southwest Announces New Bookable Routes Through November
Scott Dylan April 04, 2019
It’s a big March for Southwest Airlines. The carrier is announcing several new direct routes that will link major cities across the country. We now have a good idea of what Southwest’s bookable flight schedule looks like from now until Nov. 2. Southwest already offers somewhere around 4,000 daily flights at the moment. Take a look at what’s new if you’re planning to fly with Southwest in the months ahead.
Southwest is adding a new route on Aug. 10 that will introduce weekend service between St. Louis and Salt Lake City. That route will make the jump to offering daily service between the two hubs on Oct. 2. That’s also the same day Southwest plans to introduce nonstop service between Baltimore/Washington and Newark on a twice-per-day basis. That route might look familiar to you. Southwest actually offered this service back in 2013.
Some new daytime-only weekend routes are also coming from Southwest. Weekend service between Nashville and Buffalo is coming on Oct. 5. In addition, Sunday-only service between Houston and Amarillo is coming on that day. Oct. 5 will also bring the introduction of new Sunday-only service between Dallas Love Field and Cleveland.
All of this probably seems like small potatoes compared to what else Southwest has going on at the moment. Southwest basically just launched a Hawaiian takeover. The carrier finally began offering flights from the West Coast to Hawaii this month. It’s a move that is setting off a chain reaction among carriers that already offer flights to Hawaii’s islands. Hawaiian Airlines saw its stock value take a serious dip this month as a direct result of Southwest’s entrance into the Hawaiian market. Hawaiian Airlines is currently offering deals to try to stay as competitive as possible. Southwest introduced its new tickets to destinations in the Aloha State for as low as $49 in some cases. The first routes launched as part of Southwest’s Hawaiian takeover will bring passengers from Oakland and San Jose to Honolulu and Kahului. Inter-island service between Honolulu and Kahului will be launching on April 28. Tickets for that route will be going for as low as $29. Southwest is far from done when it comes to introducing new Hawaiian routes. The budget carrier has told customers to be on the lookout for new flights that involve Lihue. We also know that more service from San Diego and Sacramento to Hawaii will be coming from Southwest at some point.
[Image Source: Wikimedia/ Daniel Schwen]
I wonder if this blogger knows that Southwest officially doesn't have hubs?
I sure hope that once weekly CLE-DAL flight goes daily at some point. I'd use it if it was.
Southwest basically just launched a Hawaiian takeover? From all indications, Alaska - still with the largest number of flights to Hawaii from the mainland US - has not flinched one bit.