Southwest grows again: Airline adding two more cities, giving it a dozen new destinations
Palm Springs, in November.
“Our arrival in the heart of California, both on the Central Coast and in the Central Valley, will round out nearly four decades of investment in our California customers and communities,” Southwest Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Executive Vice President Andrew Watterson said in a statement.
Southwest did not announce routes or start dates for the new cities beyond saying service will begin in the second quarter of 2021. The airline will have competition in Santa Barbara and Fresno, the extent of which won’t be known until it announces routes. Alaska, American, Delta and Frontier are among the airlines serving Santa Barbara Airport. At Fresno Yosemite International Airport, airlines include Allegiant, Frontier, Delta, American and United.
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coronavirus pandemic, the airline only planned to add Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport to its route map, Kelly said in an interview. (It did announce service to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in February before the pandemic was declared.)
The pandemic crushed travel demand and changed things dramatically for Southwest and its competitors. All have been adding a flurry of flights to destinations popular with vacationers and travelers visiting friends and relatives, because leisure travelers have returned before business travelers. Frontier Airlines announced a flurry of new flights to Las Vegas Tuesday, for example.
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Kelly insists the new destinations were all on its new-service wish list and will outlast the pandemic.
“We’re not doing this only in a pandemic,” he said in The Wings Club interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney. “These are permanent additions to our route system.”
