Southwest Airlines has cut 100 routes from its winter 2020 schedule, but that comes with an asterisk.
A big asterisk.
Turns out, according to The Points Guy aviation blog, the carrier already has a full complement of flights this winter.
“As we’ve seen in past downturns, we’ve been able to capture substantial demand post the downturn,” Southwest commercial chief Andrew Watterson told The Points Guy. “We’d expect no different this time.”
The Dallas-based carrier loaded a schedule of 226,446 flights in November and December according to Cirium schedules, just 1.5 fewer flights than it flew during the same period last year. However, the schedule does include 111 fewer routes than it flew year-over-year during the winter of 2019. The Points Guy noted that Southwest can adjust its November and December schedule—either adding back routes or taking more away—over the next five months.
But it isn’t just small airports affected by the cuts. International destinations Belize City, Grand Cayman and Providenciales remain closed due to the coronavirus, while Fort Lauderdale will end its routes to Cancun, Montego Bay, Birmingham, Boston, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Hartford, Las Vegas, Louisville and Long Island MacArthur.
Los Angeles loses nonstop flights to Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Tampa; Oakland had service cut to Atlanta and Orlando; San Diego will not have flights to Atlanta, Orlando and Tampa; and San Jose loses flights to Baltimore/Washington and Orlando.
