Amid a flagging economy, Southwest Airlines wants to give up nearly a quarter of its gates at Maryland's flagship airport, company officials said yesterday.

The low-cost carrier, which operates more than half the flights at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, is seeking to shrink its footprint without reducing the number of flights offered. The move comes just months after state officials granted millions in concessions to persuade Southwest to maintain its investment here.

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[Last May], state officials reduced terminal rents and landing fees charged to Southwest - and forgave the millions in mistaken undercharges to it and other airlines - arguing that efforts to recoup the money could prompt the carriers to retreat from BWI.

But a nose-diving economy appears to have precipitated the outcome they were trying to prevent.

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Southwest's plan to reduce its lease at BWI from 26 gates to 20 gates represents a scaling back of long-term expansion prospects in Maryland. In 2005, the airport opened a $264 million terminal dedicated solely to Southwest, which planned to use the extra capacity to expand its offerings.

"They were anticipating growing the operations at BWI where they would at some point need those 26 gates," Campbell said. "I think economic forces have developed in a way where they don't see that expansion developing in quite the same time frame."

Southwest officials said they are not currently planning any reductions in their roughly 160 daily departures from BWI, where the Dallas-based airline accounts for more than half of all flights.

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Despite a sluggish economy, Southwest recently announced plans to launch service at airports in New York and Minnesota. "Maybe they've hit the point where they're getting as much traffic as they can at BWI," said David S. Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, an advocacy group. He added: "I think they'll still represent a giant operation at BWI. I don't think there's any chance of that ending."