SWA TO BOSTON: WE’RE GOING WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS OUR NAME!

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SWA TO BOSTON: WE’RE GOING WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS OUR NAME!

Thu, 02/19/2009 - 06:32 — Bill Owen

Queue the background sounds of the teletype, and then in your best "newsman voice" read the copy:

THIS JUST IN: SOUTHWEST PLANS TO START SERVICE TO BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LATER THIS YEAR!

It’s true! We intend to add a third new city to our expanding route network in 2009, and this time it's Boston!

Of course….calling Boston a "new" city for Southwest is a little misleading. It certainly will be a new airport—but Southwest has actually served the Boston area for over a decade. We started with service to Providence, Rhode Island, in October 1996, and expanded our coverage of the metropolitan Boston area less than two years later by adding service to Manchester, New Hampshire, in the summer of 1998. We now have nearly 60 daily departures from the Boston area to nonstop destinations all over our network, with direct and connecting service to darn near every airport we serve. Our arrival in Boston later this year will complement that service so that travelers have several ways to choose Southwest from their favorite New England airport.

This isn’t news, of course, but Boston has always been dear to our heart—we’ve been affiliated with the Boston Celtics for many years, so you guys KNOW us! So when we finally land at Logan—it’s going to be like the many scenes from the iconic sitcom set in Boston, “Cheers” when Norm walks into the bar. When we start serving Logan—we’re thinking everyone will shout “HELLO, SOUTHWEST!”

Even with the addition of a third new city, we still plan to rein in our usual aggressive growth this year. We’re able to capture new business in new Southwest markets by use of our schedule optimizer, which gives us the ability to develop schedules that improve our product and yet stay nimble and able to respond to market changes.

We’ll announce where we’ll fly from Logan, and all of the other cool details, later. But for now—thanks for your support, and we’re working hard to make our network EVER more efficient to get y’all from where you are to where you want to be—and back!

Be sure and listen to the newest Red Belly Radio episode about our new Boston service.

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Comments

Exciting news!

Drew — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 06:38

Well i'm excited we have to go where the customers are......This announcment proves that our leaders have the vision to protect our airlines....

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 07:26

non-stop bna to boston.........yes

RICKEY MATTHEWS — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 08:39

HOOORAY! Thank you southwest! Welcome to Beantown!

Mia — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:17

I would love to see PIT-BOS. The O&D is about 765 Pax/day. The PIT-BOS market is served by Jetblue which is very weak in PIT and US who is hasn't seen a route from PIT that they couldn't downsize or drop. IMHO If WN would throw 4x daily on the route, Jetblue would be gone and US would quickly downgrade to 50 seat RJ's.

Perhaps WN could provide one stop service for BOS pax through PIT to STL (one stop PIT-DAL), or BNA (one stop PIT-HOU), or HOU or Florida.

myadvice — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:29

So exciting! Thanks Bill for the great post!

Christi Day — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:29

Wow, I can't wait! I'm wishing that you will fly to Oakland, Ca!!
Luv, your airline.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:30

Does this signal expected growth in New England flights or a drop-off in service at Manchester and Providence? Or both?

MHT Flyer — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:46

Hey, Southwest Airlines -

Welcome to Boston. However, could you change the spelling of the word "reign" to the correct word "rein"?

"we still plan to reign in our usual aggressive growth"

We proper Bostonians prefer proper spellings!

spinotter

spinotter — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 09:55

Wonderful and unexpected news! Great for those of us in Bean-town.... Your post mentions a schedule optimizer - interesting - why did Boston suddenly appear great? A friend of mine who lives around here, has been saying she'd love to fly SWA to HRL - but didn't want to take the train to Providence, well great news!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:01

As with LGA, I hope that Southwest is not getting away from its roots of fast, cheap, friendly service. I believe that BOS and LGA will slow down operations because they are big, slow, inefficient airports. I will sit back and watch, hopefully nothing will change. Go Southwest!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:37

Great news!

How about a BOS-STL non-stop?

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:41

Congrats on the new city.

BNA-BOS, please.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:54

Let the fare wares begin --- between JetBlue, AirTran, all the regulars, and the new additions of SouthWest and Virgin, will there be anywhere us Bostonians CAN'T fly? I have quite a few weddings coming up, so i'm certainly thankful for the plethora of options!

Casey — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 10:59

Please compete with the BOS-PHL route. I'm tired of $1000 direct round trip flights from here. You could charge $300 and make a healthy profit.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 11:01

Go Southwest !!!
We have been waiting for this. Please include BNA-BOS.
When can I book it??!!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:28

Love Field to Boston please!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:31

spinotter,
It is obvious proper Bostonians have great eyes. Thanks for catching that.
Brian

Brian Lusk — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:49

I have relatives in Wichita and I live in Dallas and I go up there a lot. You can't imagine how many people have started driving up there because of the super high fares that American charges out of DFW on that route. I sure wish SWA would start an ICT-DAL route because I think it would knock the socks off of AA!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 13:02

I have been using Southwest out of Green airport in R.I. since you came here . I hope you will continue to fly out of RI. Southwest is the only carrier I use.
Thank-you
BAHarris

ba harris — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 13:03

My guess is they will be flying to BWI and MDW from BOS to test the market. Southwest has almost always started a city by doing a couple short-haul flights to hubs. (They only go to MDW from MSP.) If there is enough depand, they will expand.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 13:10

YES! We have all been waiting for Southwest to come to Boston:-D
SWA#1

Zackary Coro — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 13:32

spinotter,

Mea culpa....we Texans don't speak no good English.... *grin*

Bill Owen — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 14:28

I think its fabulous news to hear. WN will looking for 12 dailies roundtrip, am I correct? I am feels concerns about WN will have begin service from BOS-MDW/BWI/PHL for beginning in the fall 2009. After that WN will continues to expand more potentially new route from BOS-MCO/FLL/PBI/TPA/JAX/PHX/LAS/BNA/HOU/MSY. It would be enough more capacity growth in BOS. I'll guarantee do that where WN will considers to have continues more new cities coming soon.

Scott Weinberg — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 14:48

This is the best news. I faithfully fly Southwest from MHT-TPA. Im moving to Boston shortly and this was a nice surprise....hopefully you will fly to TPA! Thanks and Keep up the great work.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 15:31

Please please please tell me that Atlanta is next on your list!!!! I traveled to Orange County from Atlanta recently with a colleague. We both talked about wanting to stop by the SWA counter just to say hi since we don't get to fly with y'all anymore.

Please come to Atlanta soon - Delta is sucking the life out of the customer service expectations one dissatisfied customer at a time down here.

FH Alexander — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 15:47

Not just yet where WN will looking for serves into ATL. I think that mean it was still rumors for quite of the time. I would likely to begin where WN will be next announce new cities. I think WN will expect to begin potential service to ATL anytime soon. If they have enough more gate space available. I'll guarantee where ATL hub is very extremely overcrowded both Delta & AirTran.

Scott Weinberg — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 16:05

I agree with a nonstop in both direction from BOS to STL .

Have you determine which month in the fall you will start the service. I can hardly wait to plan trips from STL to BOS

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 16:42

Hey, how about a non-stop from Boston to LA???? Can't do it out of Providence because the runways are too short. Now, there's no excuse.

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 17:00

I AM NOT FLY TO LOGAN BECAUSE I DO NOT LIKE LOGAN BUT I WILL KEEP FLY TO MANCHESTER IT MUCH EASIER FOR ME THAT S WHY I NOT FLY TO LOGAN

MIKE THORN — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 18:25

It would be great if you would service Boston to Palm Beach and/or New Orleans! SWA is the best!

Anonymous — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 18:52

Great to see you adding Boston - now I can chose from MHT or BOS and get almost everywhere I need to be. Almost.

Now if you would just add Atlanta - the place my family travels to/from most often - your network (in my book) would be complete!

Shari — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 19:45

Yeah! So excited to see that SWA will start service to Boston. I am assuming that there will be some non stop flights between BOS and MDW. As a former Bostonian living near MDW, I am excited to use your service. Can go visit family more often!! I love SWA!!!!!

KS — Thu, 02/19/2009 - 23:24

When will you come to Des Moines Iowa ??? we need you here !!! would be better
if you came to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but Des Moines would do also !!!
Love your service, will be using the new service out of Minneapolis/St Paul next month.
Thanks !!!

Anonymous — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 07:41

Hey Bill:

Good post and exciting news! Norfolk raises it's hand.
ORF-BOS 123 PDEW
33.69 yield/cpm
Overpriced.
Underserved.
Unstimulated.
Lotsa Pax Leaking Away.
Send Help.

(this is like a message in a bottle!)

Charlie Braden

Charlie Braden — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 09:41

Southwest competitors beware: The Boston Fee Party is OVER!!! Southwest Airlines is coming to town! Low Fares. No Hidden Fees.

Brady — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 10:44

Super exciting news!!

My seatback and tray are in the upright position, and I'm ready to go!

Tim C — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 14:37

Your announcement made my day--really! Here's to Southwest's Beantown express!

Diane — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 15:23

I agree with expanding service at PBI

Anonymous — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 16:07

I hope they don't eliminate flights from Manchester. I love flying out of Manchester even though I'm closer to Boston. Much much easier! Please don't eliminate Florida flights from MHT!

Anonymous — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 16:20

WOO HOO! This news just made me VERY happy! Way to go SWA.

Fran pangakis — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 17:50

This is such exciting news to start off the weekend! PLEASE do a PHL-BOS route!!
Way to go Southwest- UR the Best!

RSL — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 18:28

Finally! I am so happy this is finally happening!

Edward — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 18:59

How about some non stop flights to Fort Myers for all the Red Sox fans! Neither Manchester or Providence does non stop.

John Damaso — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 20:30

I am so proud to work for a company in todays economic times that see into the future enough to move forward. SWA Rocks!!!!!1

Anonymous — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 20:41

Good to hear! Hope some amazing prices come attached to these flights!

hattrick — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 21:36

Good to hear! Hope some cheap prices come with this.

Anonymous — Fri, 02/20/2009 - 21:37

bos to bna cant wait every fri

Anonymous — Sat, 02/21/2009 - 14:35

Thats awesome news that Southwest will fly into BOS. I have lots of family there.
Please consider BOS-BNA and BOS-MSY.

Anonymous — Sat, 02/21/2009 - 14:44

BOO!!!! All WN will do is cause chaos at Logan. All your going to do is cause chaos to the many travelers. Please don't go to Florida. That is already a competitive market with DL and B6, even Spirit and somehow AA are in this. That would make it worse. There may be a short supply of room (only 4 gates)...You're going down WN!

Anonymous — Sat, 02/21/2009 - 19:21

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