Southwest Airlines planes at the gate at Dallas Love Field. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)
Come Sunday, Southwest Airlines will add 27 nonstop flights to eight more cities from Dallas Love Field as it continues to expand since flight restrictions lifted at that airport earlier this month.
The Wright Amendment, which became federal law in early 1980 to protect Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, originally allowed short flights from Love Field only to other Texas cities and adjacent states. A 2006 revision let Love Field carriers fly to any U.S. airport after making one stop in Wright amendment cities.
On Oct. 13, the restrictions expired, allowing Southwest and other carriers fly anywhere in the United States or to a U.S. territory.
The new cities that Southwest will fly to starting Sunday are: Atlanta; Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Fla., Nashville, Tenn.; New York (LaGuardia), Phoenix; San Diego; Santa Ana/Orange County, Calif., and Tampa, Fla.
It’s all part of a mix-and-match that occurs as Southwest fine tunes where it flies with local demand and connections as it expands its operations at Dallas Love Field after the Wright Amendment expired.
“We make all of these decisions based on local traffic patterns,” said Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins. For example, the Dallas-Austin route will decline from 12 daily week-day flights to 10, but “many of those passengers were just passing through Austin, now they’re dedicated passengers,” he said.
“In that sense, I feel we are offering a more resonant offering for local customers,” Hawkins said.
Overall, the changes mean Dallas-based airline will fly 149 daily week-day departures from Love Field as of Sunday. Before Oct. 13, Southwest had 118 departures to 16 Wright amendment cities.
On Oct. 13, Southwest added 22 nonstop flights for 140 departures to seven new cities. The cities were: Baltimore; Chicago (Midway); Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla.; and Washington, D.C. (Reagan National).
There are still more new flights to come.
On Jan. 6, Southwest will add four nonstop flights to Oakland, Calif., and San Francisco for a total of 153 daily weekday departures to 33 cities. By then, the carrier will have expanded its flying at Love Field by 30 percent since October.
Other changes
A few other changes will take place Sunday.
Starting then, Southwest will expand its international flying as it takes over routes formerly flow by AirTran Airways. Southwest acquired AirTran in 2011.
Southwest will offer daily service from San Antonio to Mexico City, from Austin to Cancun daily and from Chicago Midway to Punta Cana, Dominica Republic. Next year, the airline will launch new international service, starting with flights from Baltimore to Costa Rica on March 7.
In preparation for the end of AirTran, customers will no longer be able to book travel on AirTran.com as of Sunday and will be sent to Southwest.com, Hawkins said. AirTran will fly its final flight on Dec. 28 from Atlanta to Tampa, which also was its very first route.
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Source: southwest - Google News http://ift.tt/1wQJqTX
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