Southwest Airlines (Dallas) has officially landed in two brand new destinations with its new service to Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) and Dayton International Airport (DAY).  The new service officially launched on Sunday, August 12, and the airline is celebrating the new service in both cities with press conferences at each airport this morning.  In Akron-Canton, Southwest will offer two daily roundtrip flights to Southwest’s sizable operation at Chicago Midway, as well as one daily roundtrip flight to Denver.  Likewise, the airline will begin service to Dayton with one daily flight to Denver.  Southwest’s service in both markets will complement AirTran Airways‘ existing service in these cities.  AirTran’s service will continue, and the airlines will jointly determine the best time to convert all AirTran’s flying to Southwest as part of the ongoing integration to eventually becoming one airline flying under the Southwest brand.

AirTran began service at Akron-Canton in 1997 and started serving Dayton in 1998.  Today, AirTran offers 11 daily flights from Akron-Canton in addition to the three daily Southwest flights.  From Dayton, today AirTran offers eight daily flights in addition to the daily Southwest flight to Denver.

Copyright Photo: Nick Dean. Boeing 737-7H4 N918WN (msn 29843) in the Illinois One special livery arrives at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport (SeaTac).

Southwest: 

AirTran: