Southwest Airlines launching daily flight from McCarran to Atlanta
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A Southwest Airlines jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.
Monday
5 September 2011
7 a.m.
Sun coverage
Southwest Airlines’ acquisition of AirTran has finally paid some dividends to Las Vegas as the Dallas-based discount air carrier today announced plans to add a daily nonstop round-trip flight between McCarran International Airport and Atlanta.
Ever since Southwest in May closed the $1 billion deal to buy AirTran, speculation had been raised on how Southwest would enter the Atlanta market – the largest metropolitan area that had not been served by Southwest and a major hub operation for AirTran.
Some questions were answered last month when Southwest announced 15 daily nonstop flights between Atlanta and five destinations, Baltimore-Washington International, Chicago Midway, Denver, Houston Hobby and Austin, Texas, under the Southwest brand, beginning Feb. 12.
Today’s announcement further expanded the airline’s western reach from Atlanta with new flights to and from Las Vegas and Phoenix. Those routes begin flying March 10.
Departure times of the new flights were expected to be on Southwest’s website today.
“An expansion like this quickly solidifies our commitment to the Atlanta market before we’ve actually started service there,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines executive vice president of strategy and planning and AirTran Airways president.
Southwest will use 137-passenger Boeing 737 twin-engine jets on the route with flights arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the nation’s busiest airport. To and from Las Vegas, Southwest will compete on the route with Delta Air Lines, whose headquarters is in Atlanta and which makes eight daily round trips to and from McCarran. In addition, AirTran will continue to operate four daily round trips between the two cities.
Southwest made the unusual decision to announce the new service on a holiday because tickets were made available for sale today. The airline is offering an introductory one-way base fare of $109 before taxes between Atlanta and the two new cities through Oct. 1, for travel between March 10 and April 7. The least-expensive fares are offered Mondays through Thursdays.
Delta currently offers a midweek fare of $198 one way before taxes.
With the addition of the Atlanta market, Southwest will serve 73 airports in 38 states. Southwest is McCarran’s busiest air carrier with 219 daily flights to 55 destinations. Southwest, which counts flights that operate six days a week as daily, says the Las Vegas market has 226 flights, 10 fewer than its largest station, Chicago’s Midway Airport. The company has 2,697 employees based in Las Vegas.
Aviation experts disagree on what effect Southwest’s entry to the Atlanta market will have on airfares. In the past, the airline’s arrival to a city resulted in “the Southwest effect,” the airline’s presence competitively driving down fares.
But Mike Boyd, an analyst with the Evergreen, Colo.-based Boyd Group International, says AirTran, already a low-cost operator, has driven prices down ahead of Southwest.
Boyd said he doesn’t expect as much fanfare with the move because loyal AirTran customers will view Southwest as a downgrade in service because, unlike Southwest, it offers business class service and assigned seats.
But Southwest has its own marketing advantage, allowing passengers to check their first two bags for free while AirTran charges $20 for the first bag and $25 for the second.
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Southwest adds. America West/US Airlines takes away. Good job Southwest. Keep adding them flights.
Southwest might seem cheaper but if you compare the fares of a typical flight from point A to point B, SWA is more expensive. That is why they don't charge for bags. The bags fees are already hidden inside the price of the airfare. But the public is so concerned about the cheapest fares, they don't spend the time to investigate this. Southwest represents low fares, so the public just assumes the fares are cheaper and they purchase the ticket.
SAW doesn't let the consumer compare the prices on line with other airlines because SWA has their own website.
The SWA marketing department does an awesome job of selling the public on this no bag fee, and I am surprised the other airlines don't try and exploit the way SWA hides the bag fees.
SWA makes millions off of the $10 Early Bird fees to get into the A group. I have compared the SWA rates with other carriers and throw the extra BS fees of the legacy carriers, Southwest is cheaper. Plus they simply have better service too!
I travel fairly often. It's been at least a year since I've flown on Southwest. They aren't the cheapest anymore. I've found Delta to be cheaper on most flights - even taking into account a baggage charge.
LasVegas9 and mobycat illustrate why travelers need to check multiple sources to get best fare. Sometimes Southwest is cheaper, especially when considering bag fees. Sometimes Delta is cheaper despite bag fees. Southwest doesn't permit its web prices to be part of competitive aggregation so you have to look. That said, it'll be interesting to see what plays out in the Atlanta market where Delta will want to keep its competitive dominance, but locals there have already had a discounter that assigns seat in AirTran.