Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine, Your destination for travel resources and entertainment.

Spreading the LUV to Atlanta

Some people don’t know this, but Southwest Airlines carries more passengers than any other airline in the United States. That’s been the case for the last 10 years. Our route network extends from coast to coast, with Southwest service in 72 cities spanning 37 states, but it has always had a gaping hole, which just happens to be the busiest airport in the world: Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. So that begs the question, “When is the busiest airline in the United States going to serve the busiest airport in the country (and world)?” Well, the wait is over, and the question is finally answered, because starting this month: Hello, Atlanta!

Last year, Southwest acquired AirTran Airways, and we’re now in the process of integrating AirTran into Southwest. The full integration will take several years to complete, but one of the immediate benefits is that we can begin combining our two route networks. 

AirTran’s largest operation is in Atlanta, where they currently offer 173 daily nonstop flights to 51 cities. Southwest will complement AirTran’s service when we begin flying to Atlanta on February 12, with 15 daily flights to five cities: Baltimore/Washington, Chicago (Midway), Denver, Houston (Hobby), and Austin. And, I can promise you, we’re only going to grow from there. In fact, we already have announced two additional flights to two cities (Las Vegas and Phoenix), which will begin on March 10, bringing our total Atlanta service to 17 daily flights to seven cities, with direct or connecting service to 50 other Southwest destinations. 

In addition to introducing Southwest Airlines to the good people of Georgia, we have millions of Customers around the country who would love to fly on Southwest to Atlanta. We’ve now made that possible in typical Southwest fashion—with low fares, legendary Customer Service, and, of course, without those annoying hidden fees that the other guys charge. In fact, when we announced our initial service to Atlanta back in August, our fully refundable walk-up fares were, on average, 30 percent lower than anything in the market at that time. 

Whenever Southwest begins service to a new destination, two things always happen: Traffic increases, and fares decrease. The United States Department of Transportation has even dubbed this phenomenon the “Southwest Effect.” I can’t wait to see the Southwest Effect play out in Atlanta when our first plane touches down in the beautiful Peach State this month. Indeed—Hello, Atlanta! 

Gary Kelly

Chairman, President, and CEO

Southwest Airlines