AirTran Airways' parent company Southwest Airlines announced its flight schedule for next summer with plans for several new routes -- but none in Atlanta beyond what was previously announced.
Instead, Southwest plans to cut two routes from Atlanta -- to Washington Dulles and Bloomington/Normal, Ill. -- while adding new international routes from other cities. Dallas-based Southwest acquired Orlando-based AirTran in May.
AirTran continues to operate as a subsidiary as it is integrated into Southwest over the next couple of years. Southwest, as previously announced, will launch its own service in Atlanta to Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Houston Hobby and Chicago Midway in February, and from Atlanta to Las Vegas and Phoenix in March.
Southwest's chief commercial officer Bob Jordan, who also serves as president of the AirTran subsidiary, said the airline is limited in how quickly it can add more service in Atlanta. "Our intent is not to change the size of Atlanta very dramatically," and it will take time to shift AirTran planes over to the Southwest brand, he said. He said the number of flights on Southwest and AirTran out of Atlanta will likely remain flat at roughly 200 a day.
AirTran has long had Atlanta as its main hub, but Southwest is changing the position Atlanta plays in its route network by shifting away from its role as a connecting hub. For example, Southwest also announced Sunday that AirTran will begin flying some new routes out of Denver, including to New York LaGuardia.
"This is the first schedule that does a lot of tweaking of AirTran and Southwest schedules," Jordan said. Some routes that connect through Atlanta "really make sense to serve nonstop, over Atlanta, and avoid the connection."On the other hand, he said there are other routes Southwest can add out of Atlanta that are not served by AirTran.
Southwest announced Sunday that AirTran will begin flights next summer from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it plans to seek government approval for new AirTran routes from San Antonio to Cancun and Mexico City and from Orange County, Calif. to Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City.
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