October 27, 2015
Effective April 12, 2016, Wichita travelers will be able to enjoy Southwest Airlines’ low fares and daily nonstop service to St. Louis and Phoenix. The new St. Louis service will be offered twice daily and the new Phoenix service will be once a day. In addition to St. Louis and Phoenix, Southwest will continue to serve Las Vegas on a once a day basis.
The new routes will take off on April 12 as follows:
[table “10” not found /]
*Local times
Southwest serves 39 nonstop markets from St. Louis and will give Wichita travelers convenient connections to top markets such as: Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Newark, Baltimore, Washington National, Orlando, Nashville, San Antonio, among others. From Phoenix Sky Harbor, Southwest serves 49 nonstop markets including: Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco Denver, Spokane, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario, Portland, and Sacramento.
Southwest will discontinue service to Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway, effective April 11, 2016. Southwest used Wichita as a flow point for Dallas and Chicago passengers prior to the end of the Wright Amendment. Now that most of the Wright Amendment restrictions have lifted, Southwest is seeing a change in travel patterns between Wichita and Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway. However, travelers can take advantage of Southwest’s low fares to Chicago Midway with a convenient connection through St. Louis. Southwest will also offer connecting service to Dallas Love through St. Louis and Phoenix, although the route is not as direct.
“These new routes will expand the options for our customers in Wichita to get to the destinations they’ve shown us already are popular. We studied the travel patterns and offer these new destinations to connect our customers to the people and places that are important to them with minimal travel time and fewer stops,” said Dan Landson, Southwest Airlines Corporate Communications Manager.
“This is a very positive move for Southwest in Wichita. Phoenix is our 5th top destination and is underserved. While we appreciate the twice weekly service to Phoenix-Mesa on Allegiant, the Southwest service to Phoenix Sky Harbor offers daily service with connections. The St. Louis market will give Wichita travelers much needed fare relief to many of our top markets to the north and east. This new service shows Southwest’s commitment to Wichita. Now it’s up to our travelers to support Southwest. If it does well, the airline will grow in Wichita,” said Valerie Wise, the Wichita Airport Authority’s Air Service & Business Development Manager.
Southwest only publishes all fares at Southwest.com; you will not find Southwest on other booking engines, such as Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Southwest Airlines is consistently ranked high for customer service and offers an award-winning Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program. In addition to being a low-cost airline, Southwest does not charge change fees, nor do they charge for two bags – #FeesDontFly.
