NOTE: All Southwest international flights temporarily suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic have resumed but a few countries have requirements for visitors (such as forms to fill out or proof of vaccination). (*Even though Puerto Rico is a US territory and is considered a domestic flight from the US, it has been included in the list because some Americans think it is an international flight.) cities offer non stop service can be found below.) (The list of Southwest international destinations by country plus which U.S. Where Does Southwest Fly Internationally?įollowing is the list of all Southwest international flight destinations by airport. Southwest is now accepting reservations through Novemso you can book international flights for your summer vacation. It truly has been a game-changer.Southwest offers international flights to many popular travel destinations in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean so it is also a great option for shorter international flights to warm weather destinations. When the 737 and all its iterations are finally put to bed and a final history is recorded, the final accounting of “the DC-3 of the Jet Age” will accurately state that the -700 was the most underrated of that venerable family. And if the market grows or the -700 is undersized or if fewer frequencies are desired, then Southwest can put a 737-800 on it to pick up the scraps. 143 seats on point-to-point long-haul works just fine for them, even if it’s too few seats for the Big 3’s pure hub-and-spoke operations. While the rest of the industry used the 737-700 as a niche performer (Alaska, Aloha, Continental/United), it has been and still continues to be the star of the show over at Southwest. It’s no wonder Southwest operates nearly 500 of the type. The 737-700 can do it all: long-haul, short-haul, short-runway, high density altitude. Boeing effectively sun-setted the glorious 757 with the 737-700. Southwest was the launch customer of that aircraft and it would be an understatement to say they were involved in its performance specifications. As I remember, Herb himself was appointed to a TSA guidance committee after-the-fact.īut the real reason Southwest has dramatically moved its stage-length needle is the Boeing 737-700. Because Southwest was the short-haul leader, it’s doubtful if any other carrier was more impacted by the aftermath of 9/11 than Southwest. Stuff like IND-STL went from 5 flights a day down to zero. Yes, 9/11 had a huge impact on Southwest’s stage length. Let’s start with flights under 650 miles. I would have liked to show 2000 since it was before 9/11, but the Cirium schedule mapper doesn’t go back that far. While I can’t go through every route, I did pull some maps together. You’re probably wondering about the detail here. But Southwest is now a very different airline. Southwest obviously hopes some of those short-haul flights will come back, and they will to some extent. During COVID, short-haul flights have again been impacted with people opting to travel by car even more in order to stay away from others. As you can see, there is a significant difference in the share of short-haul between these two months. On the chart, I included May 2021 which is a mostly-final schedule along with September 2021 which wasn’t filed long ago but is more of a wish list of a schedule that will be refined later. That introduced international flights which were naturally longer and that moved the share needle again. The next big shift came after Southwest acquired AirTran. People who used to fly started thinking, “screw it, I’ll drive.” And Southwest responded. Travelers had nightmare stories of required early airport arrivals, long security lines, general hassles, and eventually… the liquid ban. Those quick trips were no longer so quick. Sure, Southwest started dabbling in longer hauls, but it wasn’t until 9/11 that things shifted dramatically.Īfter 9/11, the massive shift in security procedures really hampered short-haul demand. I can remember going through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago… you name it. Flying Southwest always meant a two-stopper to get to Baltimore back then. When I started college in Washington, DC in 1995, my parents lived in Phoenix and I would go back and forth. Not much did actually change in the first five years or in the 1990s at all.
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