Southwest is a conservative airline. It usually has added only a small number of airports each year, preferring to grow by joining the dots and increasing frequencies – a simpler, cheaper, quicker, and less risky way to expand. However, since November 2020, the airline has welcomed 17 airports, with another to be served in March 2022 – 18 in the space of 16 months.

Southwest has added 18 airports

When times are good, an airline has less incentive to try things outside of its comfort zone. That flew out of the window when the pandemic struck, with many carriers – including Southwest, JetBlue, American – capitalizing on changing demand and available aircraft.

In the past 12 months, Southwest has added 17 airports, with an 18th (Grand Cayman) to begin in March. Many are beach and mountain airports that were obviously selected for inbound leisure demand. Meanwhile, Miami, O'Hare, and Houston International were added to better serve the large metro areas beyond one airport.

  1. Miami (MIA): November 2020
  2. Palm Springs (PSP): November 2020
  3. Montrose (MTJ): December 2020
  4. Steamboat Springs (HDN): December 2020
  5. Chicago O'Hare (ORD): February 2021
  6. Sarasota (SRQ): February 2021
  7. Colorado Springs (COS): March 2021
  8. Fresno (FAT): April 2021
  9. Houston Intercontinental (IAH): April 2021
  10. Santa Barbara (SBA): April 2021
  11. Bozeman (BZN): May 2021
  12. Destin Fort Walton Beach (VPS): May 2021
  13. Myrtle Beach (MYR): May 2021
  14. Savannah (SAV): May 2021
  15. Eugene (EUG): August 2021
  16. Bellingham (BLI): November 2021
  17. Syracuse (SYR): November 2021
  18. Grand Cayman (GCM): March 2022
Southwest's added airports
These airports have been added since November 2020. Image: GCMap.

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Only two were served before

Only Houston Intercontinental and Grand Cayman were served previously. Houston was linked to Dallas Love until April 2005; for the next 16 years, Hobby was the only airport the carrier used to serve the major Texas city. That changed in April 2021, with eight routes initially operated and a ninth (Tampa) following two months later.

Grand Cayman, meanwhile, was served between June 2017 and April 2020, so it could be considered more of a 'normal' relaunch than Hobby. Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Hobby were all served, with Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale to return in 2022.

SWA inaugural flight landing.
What a photo! Texas One was used to commemorate flights from Houston Intercontinental earlier this year. Photo: George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Two airports were added this month

Bellingham, 20 miles from the Canadian border, welcomed Southwest on November 7th, with two routes: Oakland (14-weekly) and Las Vegas (seven-weekly). This was followed a week later, on November 14th, by the inauguration of Syracuse, Southwest's sixth airport in New York state. It joins Albany, Buffalo, Islip, LaGuardia, and Rochester.

Baltimore and Orlando from Syracuse

Syracuse opened with one route: the 273-mile (440km) link from Baltimore. With 21 weekly flights, Syracuse-Baltimore will, of course, be especially good for transit passengers across the US. On the day of writing, Southwest leaves Syracuse at 06:30, 12:00, and 16:55; returning, it departs Baltimore at 10:00, 15:00, and 22:05.

Southwest will also begin a Saturday-only Syracuse-Orlando service from November 20th. It'll face head-to-head competition from Frontier and JetBlue, with five and seven weekly flights respectively when in the first week of Southwest's launch.

What other airports would you like Southwest to add? Let us know in the comments.