Southwest Airlines is already showing signs of deemphasizing Atlanta's role as a connecting hub as it gradually takes control of AirTran Airways.
Dallas-based Southwest on Sunday announced plans to launch or apply for several new routes on AirTran, including Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Antonio to Cancun and Mexico City; and Orange County, Calif., to Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City. Not on the list for new routes: Atlanta, where AirTran has long had its main hub.
That doesn't mean Atlanta fliers will lose service or see any major erosion in AirTran's schedule at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which Southwest said it expects to keep at 185 to 200 daily flights. That's compared to about 220 when its buyout of AirTran was announced last fall.
But it reflects Southwest's bigger overall route network and its long-held preference for more point-to-point routes that don't require hub connections.
"This is the first schedule that does a lot of tweaking of AirTran and Southwest schedules," said Southwest's chief commercial officer, Bob Jordan, who is also president of the AirTran subsidiary. Some routes that connect through Atlanta "really make sense to serve nonstop, over Atlanta, and avoid the connection."
It also reflects that, amid high fuel costs and economic uncertainty, major airlines are cutting some flights while cautiously searching for niches where they think they can find a market.
Cuts in the existing flight schedule are “funding” the new international routes, according to Jordan. The high cost of fuel “just puts a lot of pressure on flights,” he said. “We’ve got flights in that scenario that just don’t make any sense.”
Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Delta is focusing its attention on the New York area, where it faces heavy competition from other airlines including American and United Continental. Delta announced Monday it will launch new flights between New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Nassau, Bahamas.
Delta is still finalizing its full flight schedule for next spring and summer, including its schedule for Atlanta, according to Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter. Delta currently has about 975 daily departures out of Atlanta.
But the airline has already announced it will cut flight capacity next year, particularly on trans-Atlantic flights to Europe.
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