Those of us who are older than dirt (like me) and are fans of Carol Burnett (and who isn't?) will recognize this as the title of a ditty performed by a very young Miss Burnett on the Jack Paar Show in 1957. The erstwhile Secretary of State is also the namesake of Dulles International Airport in Virginia, which will become Southwest's newest destination airport later this year.
Southwest is always looking for opportunities to provide our Positively Outrageous Service to an ever-growing slice of the American "pie," and adding Dulles to our "bakery case" is the right move at the right time. For years, Dulles was primarily the Washington/Baltimore area's longhaul and international airport. However, over the past decade as the population of Northern Virginia has virtually exploded, Dulles has added more and more short- to medium-haul service. The area is home to many large corporations, such as Nextel Communications, Inc. America Online Inc., MCI, and Oracle Corp, which has helped to fuel the surge in traffic at the facility.
Architecture buffs–of which I'm one–will also appreciate Dulles International as one of the premier works of the famous Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen. 
The soaring and spacious terminal design was meant to evoke the feeling of flight. The incredibly beautiful glass-and-concrete facility will be a wonderful addition to the ever-growing flock of Southwest destinations!
Adding a new destination is always an interesting exercise for my workgroup, the Schedule Planning Department. We are always on the lookout for airports that are either under-served and over-priced. Dulles will be a terrific compliment to our large operation at the Baltimore/Washington airport, 45 miles to the northeast of Dulles.
We'll announce destinations, schedules, and fares from Dulles this summer, so stay tuned. Otherwise–welcome to the new Southwest blog, and have an AWESOME day.
Comments
How does one get in the airline schedule planning industry?
Hey Bill,
Are you going to grow Kansas City with a flight or two Denver? Okay, now I'm being greedy but how about another non-stop from Sacramento to/from Kansas City? Thanks!
Hi, Ron!
You're right, we want to connect Denver to Texas. Heck, we want to connect Denver to a LOT of places. We're just getting started there, and our thoughts for our intial entry were to connect it with our three largest Stations--La$ Vega$, Phoenix, and Chicago/Midway. But we hope we're not done yet in Denver. We think we can continue to grow there. Be on the lookout for more new service announcements!
As far as choosing Denver over Colorado Springs, the good folks at DIA have steadily lowered their cost per enplanement over the past few years, and their costs got low enough to be in the competitive range. Because Denver is *so* much larger than the Springs is in terms of air traffic, we elected to have our initial re-entry point in Colorado be Denver. That's not to shut the door on Colorado Springs forever--it's a growing area with a great economy. But it's still a fraction of the size of metro Denver/Boulder. After it grows larger, and after we're pretty well tapped out in Denver, you could see Southwest at both airports. Wouldn't that be a Rocky Mountain High?!!
Thanks for your reply...thanks for reading our new blog...and thanks for flying with us!