Southwest Airlines is making some exciting new additions to its route map.
The Dallas-based carrier filed plans over the weekend to add eight new domestic routes, as first seen in Cirium plans and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.
The full list of new routes is available below.
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- Austin to San Francisco
- Nashville to Louisville
- Indianapolis to Chicago Midway
- Los Angeles to Orlando
- Orlando to Miami
- Orlando to West Palm Beach, Florida
- Orlando to Sarasota, Florida
- Phoenix to Santa Barbara, California
All new routes start next summer in August 2025.
Southwest has since flown three new routes, although Orlando to West Palm Beach has been dormant, last operating in April 2002. Returning after a very short hiatus is Indianapolis to Chicago Midway, Southwest’s last route to fly in August 2020.
Most of the new routes will operate daily. The exceptions are Phoenix to Santa Barbara, which will be served only on Sundays, and Nashville to Louisville, which will operate six days a week except Saturdays.
Southwest’s additions include some exciting new city pairs – especially in Florida. Four of the eight routes are from Orlando, one of Southwest’s operating hubs. While the city will see a new transcon to Los Angeles (already well served by American, Delta and United), three routes will be short intra-Florida services.
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Two will be in South Florida (Miami and West Palm Beach), and the third will be an incredibly short 104-mile jaunt to Sarasota. (Chances are you’ll end up taxiing longer than you are in the air; the flight will be delayed for an hour.)
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Orlando to Miami is already served by American and Delta (and Spirit recently had a short stint in the cut market).
Elsewhere, Southwest’s addition to Austin follows Delta’s addition of the exact same route a few weeks ago. While Southwest is the largest airline in Austin, Delta has been growing there in recent years.
Finally, a new route from Nashville to Louisville comes as Southwest looks to refocus its efforts in the southeast away from Atlanta and into Nashville.
Earlier this year, the airline opened its new flight crew base in Nashville, and plans to increase its Sunday flights from the city to an all-time high next year.
The airline added six new routes from Nashville in September, while simultaneously cutting 15 markets from Atlanta. Interestingly, Southwest is also testing intrastate service in Tennessee with a new service from Nashville to Memphis next year.
All these moves come as the airline recently extended its booking window to Oct. 1.
Southwest declined to provide a statement about the new routes, but referred to its latest 8-K filing earlier this month that provides glimpses into the carrier’s plans to boost profits.
“Strategic actions include improving network efficiency and capacity balancing, marketing and distribution, as well as ongoing efforts to advance revenue management strategies,” the filing said.
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