Southwest unveils 4 new routes as it extends schedule into 2023
Southwest unveiled four new routes Thursday as the carrier extended its booking schedule into early 2023. Tennessee, California and Colorado were the big winners.
In Tennessee, Nashville International Airport (BNA) will get nonstop flights to both Long Beach Airport (LGB) in California and Yampa Valley Regional Airport (HDN) outside Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Seasonal service to the Colorado ski resort launches Dec. 17 with one round trip each Saturday. Nashville's Long Beach flights will be daily, beginning Nov. 6. Flights at Long Beach are capped by slots, but Southwest is able to add the Nashville service with the slot pair it picked up from the two relinquished by Delta. The other, according to the Long Beach Business Journal, will go to Breeze, which has not yet announced its plan for the slot.
In California, San Diego International Airport (SAN), Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) join Long Beach in picking up new Southwest routes. That includes one new intra-California route, which will link San Jose and Palm Springs with six round trips a week beginning Nov. 6. The route will operate every day except Saturday.
Southwest also will add nonstop service from San Diego to Colorado Springs Airport (COS) – though that route will feature an irregular schedule that will operate "on select peak travel days from late November through early January."
Southwest schedule extended: Book now to save on flights through Jan. 4, 2023
Elsewhere, Southwest will bring back a number of seasonal routes while others will pause, as planned. Southwest also will tweak schedules on existing routes. The carrier says it will increase flights on "select high-frequency routes," a move that the company says "will enhance timing options for business travelers and support network reliability in case of operational disruptions (like winter storms)."
Additionally, the carrier plans to increase Florida service with additional Saturday nonstops to the state from cities in the Midwest and Northeast. Those changes will begin in November.
Details of the four new Southwest routes are below.
San Jose-Palm Springs
- Begins Nov. 6. Daily, except Saturdays.
Nashville-Long Beach
- Begins Nov. 6. Daily.
Nashville-Steamboat Springs
- Seasonal, begins Dec. 17. Saturday-only service.
More: Southwest Airlines unveils Steamboat Springs routes, adds new destination during pandemic
San Diego-Colorado Springs
- Will operate only on peak days. They are: Nov. 22-23, Nov. 27-28, Dec. 21-23, Dec. 26-30 and Jan. 3.
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