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Southwest Airlines to announce flight service to Boston

06:53 AM CST on Thursday, February 19, 2009
By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

Southwest Airlines Co. will announce Thursday that it plans to launch service to Boston, completing its slate of New England airports. Southwest previously had started service to Providence, R.I., Manchester, N.H., and Hartford, Conn., but avoided the more crowded, congested Boston Logan International Airport.

"Today, more than ever, it’s imperative that we make wise decisions on how and where we utilize our aircraft – and we know that Boston Logan Airport is a smart choice for Southwest,” Southwest chairman and chief executive Gary Kelly said in a written statement.

“I am confident that Logan will be a great addition to our already strong presence in the New England area,” he said. “We stand ready to offer this bustling region even more low-fare service and unbeatable Southwest Airlines customer service.”

Although Southwest has said it will fly less capacity in 2009 than in 2008, it has been creating capacity for three new cities this year by redeploying aircraft from unprofitable routes.

In March, it begins service to Minneapolis-St. Paul, a hub stronghold of Northwest Airlines Inc. It is seeking to buy enough landing rights to offer seven flights to and from New York LaGuardia Airport, probably to begin service this summer.

All three 2009 launches involve cities that do not fall into Southwest’s old business plan of emphasizing under-utilized, secondary airports in metropolitan areas and avoiding the main airports.

But Southwest increasingly is finding it hard to identify new markets that fit that mold. Among two of its larger launches in recent years have been to Denver and San Francisco, two airports it had previously abandoned.

Mr. Kelly did not give a start date for the Boston flights other than this fall, nor the cities to which it plans to fly.

“We plan to begin Logan service with a conservative number of flights and a two gate operation," he said.

Southwest said Kelly made the announcement in a meeting Wednesday night with Southwest employees in Chicago. He told the Boston Globe that the airline plans to start with eight to 12 flights.

In a statement, Edward C. Freni, director of aviation for Logan’s owner, Massport, said the airport is “thrilled to welcome Southwest Airlines to Boston Logan.”