Good morning Blogosphere! There is a LOT going on here in the "Puzzle Palace" (a hopefully affectionate nickname bestowed on our Love Field Headquarters campus)! This morning we opened for your purchasing pleasure our initial March 12 through April 25, 2011 schedule. That includes Easter 2011 (which falls on April 24th, according to the incredibly helpful website www.apples4theteacher.com) as well as Spring Break. Something tells me our new service to Panama City Beach--the closest airport to Destin--will be hopping next March, as will as all of our many beach destinations. Sign up now to see who plays the 2011 version of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello!
We're upping the bar a bit on utilization for the busy March/April time period, and as you'll see on the attached list of weekday flight changes there are far more "plusses" than "minuses" for once! Even though we're holding our fleet count flat, we're able to put more flying into this schedule to accommodate the expected demand through the seasonal block time decreases. As we "fly" out of winter it takes less time to get between airports due to improving weather and decreasing headwinds, and we'll certainly take advantage of it!
As for what's in this schedule--we're adding service in DOZENS of markets. We're also doing a bit of re-engineering our schedules at Boise and Spokane. We're *finally* linking Boise and Spokane with new nonstop service to Phoenix! This follows the very successful intrduction of service between both Boise and Spokane and our "Powerhouse in the Rockies," Denver. In order to make this happen, we're eliminating Spokane-Salt Lake City nonstop service, and reducing one trip each between Spokane and both Boise and Seattle. We're pretty sure the trade-off will be worth it! Other changes are the seasonal introduction of nonstop service between Hartford and West Palm Beach (BOCA, BABY!!!). Also, we're eliminating nonstop service between Cleveland and St. Louis, although (of course!) we'll retain lots of quick connections via Chicago Midway. Also, on Saturdays, we're adding nonstop service in four markets--Cleveland and Detroit to Orlando, Manchester to Ft. Lauderdale, and our old friend Norfolk-Las Vegas. See the attached pdf files for all the details.
Coming up, we'll be opening the April 26 through June 3 time frame in just over a week, so I'll be back on here to give ya'll the "scoop" on that schedule, as well as any other schedule surprises we have in store. With that, plus my on-the-scene report planned for this Friday from the World Low-Cost Carrier Conference in London, as well as a "Day In The Life Of A Network Planner" post coming up soon, you guys are going to be getting a big dose of Bill over the next couple of weeks!
Have a GREAT Tuesday, everyone, and thanks for flying Southwest!
