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SWA seeks approval for Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize destinations from Hobby.

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HowardBorden

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Southwest Airlines announced plans to launch service to six new international destinations out of Houston Hobby in 2015 pending government approval.

The Dallas-based carrier, which partnered with the city of Houston to spend $156 million on a new international concourse at the airport, said it plans to add flights to Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and San Jose, Costa Rica and Belize City, Belize.

Southwest said it will begin selling tickets on those flights once it receives approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation and expects the flights to begin in October.

The carrier plans to start flights to Aruba from Houston Hobby on March 7 even though the new concourse won't be finished. Southwest is able to fly passengers in from Aruba without a customs facility in Houston since passengers can move through customs at a U.S. pre-clearance facility in Aruba.

Southwest already flies Cancun, Mexico City and Los Cabos from other U.S. airports. Belize, however, will be a new addition to Southwest's network and the airline had previously announced it was adding San Jose, Costa Rica and Puerto Vallarta.

"We're looking at cities [where the] demand is heavily oriented toward the United States customer," said Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly, speaking at a Wings Club luncheon in New York on Thursday. "That will be a good start for us and our focus right now is Latin America."

Most of Southwest's increased capacity in 2015 comes from new flights added at the Houston airport and at Dallas Love Field where the Wright Amendment restrictions were lifted two months ago.

Kelly said he was happy with the performance of the 16 new destinations that Southwest added to Love Field this fall.

"Of all the new flights that we've added, the average load factor is about 90 percent," Kelly said, speaking at a Wings Club luncheon in New York on Thursday. Since Love Field is limited to only 20 gates, Kelly added, "I expect that we're going to continue to run very full flights."

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/aviation/sky-talk-blog/article4427670.html
 
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Spirit Airlines is eating SWAs mexican lunch.

Well, it looks like Spirit announced seven international destinations from IAH beginning May 2015 and Southwest announced seven international destinations from HOU in October 2015. Whether or not that qualifies as eating ones Mexican lunch is I guess a judgement call.
 
Southwest providing feed to it's own international flights is going to be impressive. I doubt anyone will be eating anyone else's lunch.
 
Can a corndog fly that far from Lubbock without having a panic-attack?
 
Can a corndog fly that far from Lubbock without having a panic-attack?

This thread is moving way to slow. The fact that it hasn't turned into Delta vs SWA or how AirTran pilots suck is really disappointing. FWIW this is only the beginning. Southwest Airlines is going to send an aluminum cloud of airplanes to the Caribbean, Central and South America. You won't be able to Shake a stick and not hit SWA metal.
 
Southwest Airlines is going to send an aluminum cloud of airplanes to the Caribbean, Central and South America. You won't be able to Shake a stick and not hit SWA metal.
I'm not sure about an "aluminum cloud" but senior officials have been talking about it more than in the past for sure. The company is poised for growth with expectations of 20% ROIC in 2015 coupled with falling fuel prices and a new reservation system coming on line that will actually handle international expansion. Since SWAPA is currently in section 6, I will believe it all when it actually happens but the opportunity and economic resources seem to be falling into place.

Kelly recently called the international launch "our top priority for this year. Our focus is near-international," he told shareholders at Southwest's annual meeting May 14. "So Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and even as far as the northern part of South America are all wonderful international opportunities that we're excited about. We have more opportunities than we have airplanes over the next four or five years, and that's a good thing."
http://www.jsonline.com/business/so...o-go-international-b99302465z1-265363331.html


"I wouldn't be surprised if it's a couple hundred aircraft worth of growth just with the capabilities that we have today," Southwest chief financial officer Tammy Romo said at a June 5 investment conference.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/...t-airlines-gets-ready-to-go-international.ece


In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, Southwest achieved a 19% pretax return on invested capital, excluding special items, well beyond its target of 15%, the company said. Ms. Romo said she sees the company delivering pretax ROIC next year in the 20% range. http://www.wsj.com/articles/southwe...15649488?KEYWORDS=southwest airlines earnings
 
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When you have pent-up demand internally from your own customers to go to these destination it will be the perfect storm of huge revenue.

Southwest has one of the best feeds in the industry. They feed themselves from places like Lubbock, Flint and Amarillo even though people love to make fun of those places. No need to outsource anything. Just remember the sheer number of passengers that SW carries daily. Adding international destinations that the same airframe can cover is a smart move. It just took them too long to get the res system up and running.
 

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