Just as the weather’s getting chilly, Southwest is heating things up again by opening up our schedule for next summer—along with a LOT of exciting new service! We’re now accepting reservations all the way out to August 10, 2012, on both the Southwest network, available at southwest.com, as well as the AirTran network, bookable at airtran.com. This will give us 271 days of bookable inventory (which translates into roughly 3.8 Kardashian marriages), which is among the widest booking windows we’ve ever offered. I’ve got lots of details—so let’s dive in!
We’ve got new service to talk about! On the AirTran side, we’re adding new service between Ft. Lauderdale and San Juan, Puerto Rico, with two daily flights starting May 24, which will help South Floridians “get their mofongo on!” Of course, this is in addition to our existing AirTran service between San Juan and Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, and Baltimore/Washington. Then we turn our attention to Mexico, as AirTran will file for authority to fly the following routes: San Antonio to both Cancun and Mexico City beginning May 2012, and Orange County, Calif. to Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City beginning June 2012. Both Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas are brand new destinations for AirTran, and we’ll announce schedules for all the new international service and make them available for purchase at a later date—but what’s cool is that this will be AirTran’s first international service from San Antonio, and it’ll be the first international service EVER planned from Orange County’s brand new international terminal!
Domestically, we’re adding new AirTran nonstop service between Mile-High Powerhouse Denver and Dayton (one daily roundtrip), Akron/Canton (one daily roundtrip), and New York LaGuardia (two daily roundtrips). We will also add new seasonal AirTran service between Baltimore/Washington and both Seattle-Tacoma and Los Angeles (two daily roundtrips each), and between Baltimore/Washington and both New Orleans and San Francisco (one daily roundtrip each). And because we’re now using Southwest’s schedule optimization engine for the AirTran schedule, there are lots of market-level frequency changes, and we’ll continue to “tweak the freqs” (making minor changes to frequencies in nonstop markets) after we open for sale … so stay tuned!
On the Southwest side, we expect Summer ’12 to be a busy one! Just as we’ve done on the AirTran side, we’ve completely re-optimized the Southwest network for the June-August schedule. We’re adding seasonal new service between Houston Hobby and Seattle-Tacoma, Kansas City, and Raleigh-Durham (one daily roundtrip in each), all of which are brand new nonstop markets for us, as well new nonstop service between Chicago Midway and Oklahoma City (which has been one of our most frequently asked-for new markets!). We’re also bringing back seasonal nonstop service between Nashville and Seattle-Tacoma, between St. Louis and San Diego, and between Norfolk and Las Vegas. In total, we “tweak the freqs” (I’m starting to love that phrase!) in a total of 61 roundtrip markets. Forty markets see slight increases, 21 see minor decreases, and after everything is tabulated, the Southwest network grows by 36 daily departures for a total of 3,398 Southwest flights each weekday.
Stoke the fires, enjoy the winter, but start dreaming of next summer … then make some plans AND some reservations. Southwest and AirTran are ready for you! Have a great week, everyone.
Comments
Are you guys flying into Branson, MO?
Will they be hiring for flight attendants, and when? Also, will they develop a different way to hire flight attendants other than the way it as done last? Seemed like the system was overloaded, I actually got on at least 10 times but the system would boot me off. I am very interested in applying...:)
we travel from manchester nh to TPA monthly and hear that service at MHT is going to be cut in 2012. This news from an employess at SWA. Can someone let us know is this true?
Hi Pat! Southwest is reducing service between MHT and Philadelphia, but you will have lots of service between MHT and TPA. In fact--we currently offer one daily nonstop, and that will increase to 2 daily nonstops as of 2/12/12, and up to 3 daily nonstops on 3/10/12!
Bill
Sigh. Was really hoping to hear SWA/AirTran adding flights from Memphis... with some of the highest ticket prices in the US, and TERRBILE (and getting worse) service going westward, flights to Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, etcetera would be welcome here!
Congratulations on growing your business though!
I am incredibly disappointed AirTran is stopping service in Bloomington, IL (BMI)!!!
I am an A+ Rewards Elite member, and frequently utilize Airtran's convenient service from this location. My loyalty to this company was a waste!
I find it hard to believe this isn't a profitable market. I can't remember the last time I flew and it wasn't a full flight.
Will Southwest Airlines be going to Memphis, TN soon?
Did you take away the nonstop flights from Chicago Midway to Long Island Islip starting in June and replace them with ridiculously long flights (that stop in Florida?) for a crazy amount of money? I am just really hoping the website is messed up right now.
Hi Megan. Yes, we did discontinue our nonstop Midway-Islip service with the June 2012 schedule. We're still offering connecting service via Baltimore/Washington, which is quite efficient. However, because of the parameters used by our connection generator, odd connections via far-flung places--like Florida--will show in availability if there is not another connection that leaves later and/or arrives earlier. So we still have great connections available via BWI--but there are other, valid connections that can be purchased if that's what's needed. Hope this helps!
Bill
why isn't swa competing more with the ''united airlines'' hub at Dulles airport??