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Southwest to convert Wichita to a Southwest city on June 2

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) on June 2, 2013 will convert service at Wichita, Kansas from AirTran Airways to a Southwest city. At Wichita’s Mid-Continent airport, WN will substitute three AirTran nonstop flights between Wichita and Atlanta with two Southwest nonstops between Wichita and both Dallas/Love and Chicago/Midway, and daily Southwest nonstop service between Wichita and Las Vegas. This will give Southwest five daily departures, with direct and connecting service to another 70 Southwest cities across America.

Integration between Southwest and AirTran also continues in the Caribbean. On the same day WN will convert existing AirTran nonstop service between Baltimore/Washington and San Juan, Puerto Rico to Southwest Airlines service, and will add a fourth daily roundtrip between San Juan and Orlando. All of Southwest’s service to San Juan utilizes Boeing 737-800 aircraft complete with Boeing’s Sky Interior.

According to the airline, Southwest will also add two daily nonstop roundtrips between Houston/Hobby and New York’s LaGuardia Airport. WN will also add new nonstop service between Chicago/Midway and Tulsa. Other nonstop markets that will seasonally return will be daily nonstops between Seattle/Tacoma and Atlanta, Nashville, Houston/Hobby, and Kansas City, between Austin and Portland OR, and between Las Vegas and Manchester. Southwest will end nonstop service in five markets—Albuquerque-Tucson, Oakland-Reno, Little Rock-St. Louis, and between Birmingham and both Jacksonville and New Orleans. In addition, WN will eliminate seasonal nonstops between Hartford and Ft. Myers, weekend-only nonstops in the Norfolk-Tampa and Providence-Ft. Myers markets, and will seasonally shift Southwest nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and both Raleigh/Durham and Milwaukee to AirTran. WN will also reduce frequency in 40 roundtrip markets and increase service in 49 others, winding up with an average of 3,382 departures each weekday—which represents an overall increase in roughly 18 midweek departures per day.

Southwest Airlines: