Southwest Airlines To Serve Pensacola; Add Flights To Nashville, Houston

May 7, 2013

Southwest Airlines will begin services at the Pensacola International Airport later this year.

In 2011, Southwest completed the purchase of AirTran Airways, which has served Pensacola since 2001. Southwest announced in January 2012 that it intended to convert Pensacola’s AirTran operations to Southwest over time. This morning, Southwest announced their flight schedule for the remainder of 2013, including nonstop service from Pensacola to Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) and Nashville International Airport (BNA), slated to begin by November.

As a result of its decision to transition Atlanta from a hub to a focus city, Southwest is expected to phase out service from Pensacola to Atlanta. The new Southwest service will represent a 22% increase in seat capacity over AirTran’s existing service, and the number of one-stop destinations served will increase from 53 to 65.

“Today’s announcement is a tremendous victory for our community,” said Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward. “Pensacola is driving economic development, tourism, and transportation across the region, and I believe this partnership with Southwest will help take us to new heights.”

Pictured top: Greg Donovan, director of the Pensacola International Airport and Mayor Ashton Hayward Tuesday morning as they announced that Southwest Airlines will serve Pensacola. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “Southwest Airlines To Serve Pensacola; Add Flights To Nashville, Houston”

  1. Tom English on May 15th, 2013 3:20 pm

    I am from Pensacola and have lived in Nashville for 10 years. LOVE Southwest! When we plan a vacation the first thing we do is see if SW flys there. If not, we don’t go.

  2. TS on May 10th, 2013 8:32 am

    @Christopher, I’m surprised to hear of your displeasure with Southwest. I previously lived in Nashville where Southwest is the main carrier and absolutely loved their service and have made the drive to ECP several times to catch their direct flights to BNA. I’m excited to have WN flying this route directly from PNS. Southwest is great — admittedly, if you demand first class and/or assigned seating, this isn’t the airline for you; but they’re generally on time, changing travel plans is simple and usually free (only pay difference in fare), bags fly free, and you’re never on a regional jet Conversely, I’ve had terrible experiences with Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport.

  3. Christopher on May 9th, 2013 5:36 pm

    @ Ricky G
    No comparison in those 3 airlines. Sure Delta is more expensive, but Southwest/Airtran is like riding Greyhound in the sky. You get what you pay for. Sorry to say, when it comes to WN, don’t believe the hype. They’ve been drinking their own Kool-aid too long. (Cannot speak on AA as I have no personal experience with them.)

  4. Mic Hall on May 8th, 2013 7:37 pm

    Don’t be to hard on the airport. Every airport that even thinks it can get international status will go for it. If you look around the country you will find TINY airports that are less than 1/4 what Pensacola has that call themselves “international”

    Yea, finally I may not have to drive to Panama City to get on a South West flight. Thank you everyone that worked to get this through.

    On the international name…
    Just look at Northwest Florida Beaches “International” Airport. Just ONE runway, TWO airlines, and NO flights are international. In fact most are to Atlanta. Money can buy almost anything even a big airport with very few planes or passengers.

    Pensacola’s airport has East and West runways, 3 TIMES the airlines with more flights and passengers to more locations. Though still a lot of flights are to Atlanta.

    I say if the others can call themselves international fine then we can. Even if most of us know it does not really mean international flights. In my opinion if you don’t have customs to accept international passengers you should not be called an international airport.

  5. length on May 8th, 2013 7:56 am

    It is strictly a marketing ploy. The airport need only have a runway long enough to land those large planes, ie the length of the runway. When a company, foreign or domesticis looking for a place to locate/relocate this is one of the first thikngs they check for.

  6. Jane on May 8th, 2013 5:59 am

    Pensacola Airport has grown since the earlier years but it is not a big international airport regardless of what they call it. However I am glad to see Southwest Airlines coming in with more flights. It seems to be a fairly safe airport in terms of incidents and that is in the airport’s favor too. I will say that their security needs to be updated…case in point…a 92 yr. old lady was searched and asked to remove her shoes (which she couldn’t reach from her wheelchair) after passing through a metal detector in her wheelchair! She was my mother! LOL!

  7. Ricky G. on May 7th, 2013 6:46 pm

    Good – bye Delta and American, and HELLO Southwest. Don’t fly as much as I use too but this change will make any necessary flying much better.

  8. Robert S. on May 7th, 2013 2:42 pm

    Nice to have new and more options for flights from and to Pensacola.
    “International Airport” really come on, isn’t that just about stupid to call our REGIONAL airport “International”?
    I hear it’s called “International” because packages are shipped by air into and out of the Pensacola airport but no major airlines are bringing passengers directly from another country to the main terminal. Nor, can you go there and get a direct flight to Europe, Canada or South America, nope not International by any means.
    Oh, wait, if you are coming in on a private or charter carrier to their terminal you can come in from outside the USA and a Customs Agent will meet the plane. But no Customs area to be seen inside the main terminal at Pensacola “International” Airport.
    Seems there are those who feel re-naming something makes it all better. Nope.
    But am pleased to have more flights in and out of the Pensacola Regional Airport, that is a good thing.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News