Tag Archives: Dallas

Southwest Airlines announces new routes from Dallas and Washington’s Reagan National Airport, Mexico City and AirTran Airways final flight on December 28

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) adding to what we previously reported, today published dozens of new nonstop markets for Customers flying the carrier from Dallas Love Field and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The schedule also includes new Southwest Airlines service to an additional Caribbean destination—Punta Cana, Dominican Republic—as well as to North America’s largest metropolitan area, Mexico City (replacing AirTran Airways).

New, nonstop service for Dallas Love Field:

Beginning October 13, 2014, Southwest will offer nonstop service between Dallas and:

Baltimore/Washington (three roundtrips a day)
Chicago Midway (five roundtrips a day, up to six as of November 2)
Denver (three roundtrips a day)
Las Vegas (three roundtrips a day, up to four as of November 2)
Los Angeles (three roundtrips a day, up to four as of November 2)
Orlando (two roundtrips a day, up to three as of November 2)
Washington Reagan National (three roundtrips a day, up to six as of November 2)

Beginning November 2, 2014, Southwest will offer nonstop service between Dallas and:

Atlanta (four roundtrips a day)
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood (two roundtrips a day)
Nashville (two roundtrips a day)
New York LaGuardia (three roundtrips a day)
Phoenix (four roundtrips a day)
San Diego (two roundtrips a day)
Santa Ana/Orange County (one roundtrip a day)
Tampa (two roundtrips a day)

Southwest Airlines also announced today new nonstop service between Washington Reagan National Airport and both Akron/Canton and Indianapolis beginning on November 2, 2014, increasing the carrier’s service at Reagan National from a present day offering of 17 departures to 44 departures a day by year’s end to a total 14 destinations: Atlanta, Akron/Canton, Austin, Chicago Midway, Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby, Fort Myers, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Tampa.

Southwest Airlines also will add new nonstop service between Washington Dulles and both Las Vegas and San Diego, and to existing nonstop destinations of Chicago Midway and Denver.

Southwest Airlines continues its historic launch of international service with two additional destinations—Mexico City and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic—to be added on November 2, 2014, to the carrier’s network map of more than 90 destinations across five countries in North America and the Caribbean.

AirTran Airways will be fully integrated into Southwest Airlines by the end of 2014:

AirTran Airways flight 1 (Southwest 5001) will operate on Sunday, December 28, 2014, as the carrier’s final scheduled departure. The evening flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to Tampa reprises the first flight the carrier operated on October 26, 1993 (as ValuJet). Southwest Airlines Company announced its acquisition of AirTran Airways in September 2010, and closed the transaction on May 2, 2011. The FAA awarded the Company a single operating certificate for the two carriers on March 1, 2012, and the Company plans to close 2014 with wholly owned subsidiary AirTran fully-integrated into Southwest Airlines serving a network of 93 destinations in five countries.

Copyright Photo: Marcelo F. De Biasi/AirlinersGallery.com. Goodbye AirTran Airways. We now have the date when AirTran Airways will operate its last flight – December 28, 2014. The sun will set for AirTran in Tampa on that Sunday in December. Last flight 5001 is due to be operated with a 117-seat Boeing 717-200 (going to Delta on lease) departing ATL at 10:25 pm (2225) and arriving in TPA at 11:55 pm (2355). AirTran’s Boeing 717-2BD N996AT (msn 55140) soars into the sky at Washington’s Reagan National Airport (DCA).

AirTran Airways:

Southwest Airlines:

Virgin America wins the battle for two gates at Dallas’ Love Field

Virgin America (San Francisco) has won the “Battle of Dallas”.

According to the Star-Telegram, Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez stated he would approve an agreement with American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) to transfer its lease on two gates at the city-owned Love Field to Virgin America rather than hometown Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.

Read the full story: CLICK HERE

Previously Virgin America announced it was launching its “new business-friendly flights” from Dallas’ Love Field (DAL) to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The new flights take off in October 2014.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 N839VA (msn 4610) completes the final bank on the River Approach into Washington’s Reagan National Airport (DCA).

Virgin America:

The Battle of Dallas: Southwest Airlines fights to protect its Love Field turf from “invading” Virgin America despite Sir Richard Branson’s “love letter” to the city

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) according to this article by Bloomberg Businessweek, is playing “hardball” to protect its home turf at Dallas’ downtown Love Field. Upstart Virgin America (San Francisco), as we have reported, wants to sublease two gates at DAL from American Airlines (approved by the DOT) in order to start new service to key coastal markets. Virgin America, if it gains the two gates, with offer inflight amenities that Southwest does not offer its flyers at Love Field. Is Southwest afraid of Virgin America gaining a foothold in DAL?

Virgin America has brought in the “big gun”, i.e. Sir Richard Branson, who has been visiting and urging local leaders to approve the sublease from American Airlines to Virgin America. Branson has also “videoed” a love letter (see video below) to the city leaders and business interests. Southwest is pushing back claiming it can offer more flights to more markets with the two disputed gates. The city of Dallas will have to decide who gets the lease, either upset the local “hometown” airline or invite in a new strong competitor. There is a battle going on in Dallas that is heating up with the weather. Someone will win this gunfight and someone will lose it. The stakes are high.

Video:

Read the article: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. With “Lone Star One”, Southwest continues to remind Texans it is the airline of Texas, not an airline from the West Coast. Dallas is the new battleground for these two carriers. Who will prevail?

Southwest Airlines:

Virgin America:

Virgin America lands in Dallas Love Field to announce its new routes starting on October 13

Virgin America (San Francisco) today announced it is launching sales on its new business-friendly flights from Dallas’ Love Field (DAL) to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The new flights take off in October 2014.

To announce the news today, the airline made a surprise landing with one of its custom-designed Airbus A320 aircraft at Love Field – where it is hosting an “open plane” event for media, Elevate® loyalty members, partners and social media fans.

According to the carrier, “Virgin America’s flights from DAL will bring needed fare and product competition to the market. At present, one carrier controls 80 percent of the Love Field gates (16 of 20) and more than 90 percent of the traffic. An August 2013 study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers found that of airports in its size class, DAL had the largest increase in average fares from 2007-2012 – a 37% jump.

The addition of Love Field will significantly expand Virgin America’s presence in Texas. SFO, LAX and DCA to DAL flight service starts on October 13, 2014, and LGA to DAL flight service starts on October 28, 2014. The carrier’s initial Love Field nonstop flight schedule is as below:

In 2015, Virgin America plans to add an additional daily flight from DAL to SFO, LAX and DCA, bringing each route to four daily nonstop flights. In addition, the airline plans to add two new daily nonstop flights from DAL to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in 2015. Virgin America will move its current operations from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to DAL in October 2014.

The new routes will also expand Virgin America’s footprint in Washington D.C. and New York. In the last six months, the airline invested in assets being sold as part of the American Airlines merger settlement, including airport slots at LGA and DCA – both airports where access historically has been constrained and where consumers have had less fare and product competition as a result. Virgin America will be only the second low-cost airline to serve all three major New York-area airports.

What was left unstated, Virgin America is dropping service to Philadelphia (an US Airways, soon American Airlines fortress hub) after October 6 to free up the aircraft for the new DAL routes. US/AA will have less competition at PHL, not what the DOJ had in mind.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 N361VA (msn 5515) with Sharklets approaches the runway at Las Vegas.

Virgin America:

Route Map: New routes from DAL:

Video: Virgin America in 2 minutes:

Southwest moves to protect its Dallas Love Field home with 12 proposed new routes if it gets two new gates

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) plans to add 20 flights to 12 new nonstop destinations if the airline is able to acquire two additional gates at Dallas Love Field. Southwest would add nonstop service to:

Charlotte, North Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Detroit, Michigan
Indianapolis, Indiana
Memphis, Tennessee
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
Newark, New Jersey
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina
Sacramento, California
San Francisco, California
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington

These 12 new nonstop destinations would be added to Southwest’s schedule if the airline is able to obtain the rights to two Love Field gates that American Airlines must relinquish under the terms of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. These destinations would be in addition to the 15 cities that Southwest previously announced it would serve from Love Field beginning later this year, and five new nonstop destinations currently planned for service in 2015 that Southwest has announced:

Boston, Massachusetts (Boston Logan)
Oakland, California
Panama City Beach, Florida
Portland, Oregon
San Jose, California

With the upcoming sunset of the Wright Amendment restrictions on long-haul flights from Love Field, demand for Southwest nonstop service from the airport far exceeds the Company’s current gate capacity. Access to two additional gates would allow Southwest to provide North Texas residents and visitors with the benefits of new nonstop flights to 12 additional destinations that would not otherwise be possible – a BIG win for consumers, businesses and the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is a single aviation market that is served by two airports, DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field. In total, these airports have 175 gates (155 at DFW and 20 at Love Field). If Southwest were to acquire the two additional Love Field gates, its percentage of gates in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market would remain very small, around 10 percent. Importantly, other carriers, such as Virgin America and Delta Air Lines, already have a presence at DFW International Airport and can easily expand at DFW’s ample gate facilities. In contrast, Southwest’s growth in North Texas can occur only at Love Field under the terms of the five-party agreement that resulted in the end of the Wright Amendment.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-7H4 N714CB (msn 27848) is retained in the gold “Southwest Classic” classic livery. It is pictured arriving at Las Vegas.

Southwest Airlines:

Historic Photo of the Day – May 28, 2013

Braniff International Airways (1st) Boeing 707-138B N107BN (msn 18739) DAL (Bruce Drum). Image: 102890.

Braniff International Airways (1st):

Frameable Color Prints and Posters:

A behind the scenes view of the Southwest Airlines headquarters

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) has added a nice pictorial article on their blog that takes the reader on a virtual tour of their headquarters at Love Field in Dallas.

Read the nice article: CLICK HERE

It is always nice to see an airline remembering and embracing its history and culture. Well done WN.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. It all started with these three Boeing 737-200s on June 18, 1971. 737-2H4 N21SW (msn 20345) and the two others are parked at the Southwest hangar at Love Field during a rare down time. In the beginning, the titles were on the rear fuselage and the tail.

Southwest Airlines:

Southwest Airlines is positioned to order larger Boeing 737-800s

Southwest Airlines Boeing 727-291 N406BN (msn 19991) DAL (Bruce Drum) (rare type, titles, logo), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) is positioned to convert some of its Boeing 737-700s on order for larger 737-800s. The decision to bring the Boeing 737-800 into the WN fleet moved yet another step closer to reality yesterday as the Board of Directors for the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association (SWAPA), representing more than 5,800 Pilots, unanimously approved a tentative agreement reached with the Company. The tentative agreement will now be presented to the full SWAPA membership for a ratification vote.

If approved by a majority vote of the Pilots, their current contract will be extended by one year, becoming amendable August 31, 2012, and also include the potential for wage rate increases based on the Company’s financial performance.

Last month, the Executive Board of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 556, representing more than 9,700 Southwest Flight Attendants, unanimously approved a tentative agreement reached with the Company. The tentative agreement is currently being presented to all members of TWU 556 for a ratification vote.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. This is not the first time WN has operated larger aircraft than the 737-700. Click on the historic photo for the full story.