Southwest adds 30 new routes, shakes up international Florida flights as it extends booking schedule

26.10.2023 - 13:53 / thepointsguy.com / Spirit Airlines

Southwest Airlines unveiled a whopping 30 new airline routes in its latest schedule update, which extends its booking schedule through Aug. 4, 2024.

The update brings new flights to cities across Southwest's route map, rolling out to destinations like Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Bozeman, Montana, in the West and cities like Pittsburgh and Albany, New York, in the East.

Southwest bases in Chicago, Dallas, Nashville and Burbank, California, are among those landing the most new routes. The carrier's 30 new routes include 24 brand-new ones and six that technically restore service that had previously been discontinued.

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But the biggest shake-up comes in Florida, where Southwest will end most of its international flying in Fort Lauderdale and shift it to Orlando.

Southwest plans to drop six international routes at Fort Lauderdale: Cancun, Mexico; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Havana, Cuba; Nassau, Bahamas; Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Five of those routes — all except Havana — will move about 200 miles north to Orlando, where Southwest operates a crew base and already offers a robust domestic schedule. Southwest will also add nonstop flights from Orlando to San Jose, Costa Rica.

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"Southwest is continuing its plans to better optimize its network in the post-pandemic environment, responding to leisure and business travel trends," the airline said in a statement. "Shifting the bulk of international service in the Sunshine State from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Orlando offers Customers more access to Southwest's vast domestic network with nearly 140 daily departures."

Some of Southwest's international service from Fort Lauderdale faced competition from rivals JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which also have big bases there. However, Southwest also will overlap with both airlines — as well as Frontier Airlines — on several of those routes from Orlando.

Once the shift happens in June, Southwest will be left with a single international route — to Montego Bay, Jamaica — from Fort Lauderdale.

Elsewhere, California's Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) is getting the biggest boost in Southwest's schedule update, landing six new routes — including to Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.

Dallas Love Field (DAL) gets five new routes while Nashville International Airport (BNA) gets four — including an interesting seasonal weekend-only nonstop to Bozeman.

Another interesting route comes from Southwest's busy base at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), which will get daily nonstop service to