Southwest Airlines unveiled a string of new services to be launched next year, including six international routes from Florida's Orlando International Airport (MCO), with an emphasis on capturing leisure traffic.
The added routes were announced even as the carrier warned it will slow overall capacity growth in the 2024 first quarter.
From June 4, 2024, Southwest will open daily service from MCO to six destinations: Cancun, Mexico; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Nassau, Bahamas; Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and San José, Costa Rica.
“These new routes complement existing service from Orlando to Aruba and Montego Bay, Jamaica,” Southwest says in a statement. “With this service, Cancun [will be] accessible from 17 U.S. markets Southwest serves [as of] June 2024.”
Also from June 4, the all-Boeing 737 operator will launch daily service to five cities from Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in Southern California: Boise, Idaho; Kansas City and St. Louis in Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; and San Antonio, Texas.
On the same date, Southwest will open daily service between Colorado Springs and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
The carrier also plans to operate a number of Saturday-only summer 2024 seasonal routes from its Dallas Love Field base starting June 8, including service to Buffalo, New York; Fresno, California; Providence, Rhode Island; and Spokane, Washington. It will additionally from that date operate Saturday-only summer seasonal service between Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee and Bozeman, Montana, as well as seasonal, 2X-weekly (weekends only) service between BNA and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Southwest COO Andrew Watterson said Oct. 26 on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the airline is leaning toward leisure-oriented services as it selects new routes for next year.
“Overall business travel is down maybe 10% or 15% versus 2019,” he explained. “So, it’s … a modest recalibration of the network geared a little bit less toward business, a little bit more toward leisure or mixed leisure/business.”
CEO Bob Jordan said first-quarter 2024 capacity growth will be 10%-12% year-over-year, “all of which is carryover from growth this year.” That is down from previous guidance for first quarter 2024 capacity to be up 14%-16% versus 2023.
“For the full year [2024], our network plan will focus on absorbing current capacity, maturing development markets and designing schedules for current travel patterns,” Jordan said.
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