New Routes Coming to Southwest; Old Routes Being Cut

As coronavirus continues, the effects of the pandemic are going to remain major obstacles for the aviation industry. Airlines such as Southwest continue to evaluate their routes and business models in order to stay profitable during this time. As a result, we’ve seen announcements of routes being dropped and added for Southwest.

Keep Passengers Traveling

Southwest’s plan to entice travelers is to offer passengers inexpensive direct flights that were previously unavailable.

Starting as early as November 2020, the following routes are scheduled to be added to the domestic flight list.

• Atlanta to Omaha, Louisville, and Oklahoma City

• Austin to Long Beach

• Houston to Ontario, California

• Denver to Charlotte, Wichita, Birmingham, Steamboat Springs, and Little Rock

• Nashville to San Juan and Orange County

• Phoenix to Memphis and Long Beach

• San Diego to Norfolk

• Washington to West Palm Beach

To promote the aforementioned flights, many of them will be available for less than $210 one-way. Although Southwest hasn’t announced how long these low ticket prices will last, the new routes are scheduled to remain in effect until at least April 2021.

Southwest is Also Cutting Flights

Compared to this time last year, air travel is down roughly 58%. Taking this into consideration, Southwest has plans to cut 100 direct flights over the winter season.

Although many of the cuts are being made to make room for the new routes, a good portion of the following cancellations and suspensions are being implemented to cover profit losses.

• Almost all Fort Lauderdale flights

• Los Angeles to Atlanta, Tampa, and Pittsburgh

• San Diego to Tampa, Orlando, and Atlanta

• Oakland to Atlanta and Orlando

• San Jose to Baltimore and Orlando

• All flights to Belize City, Providenciales, and Grand Cayman

Southwest has expects its 2020 third-quarter capacity to be down by 35%, a jump from the previous expectation of 20-30%ite this, they have said that they are not asking for a government loan.

It’s unclear what Southwest’s full roster of flights will look like after the pandemic, but they’re not the only airline shifting routes to accommodate a fluctuating market.