Las Vegas will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a schedule expansion recently announced by Southwest Airlines.
The Dallas-based commercial air carrier — the busiest operator at Harry Reid International Airport — announced an expansion that will add more flights on existing Las Vegas routes and several new routes for other cities.
Southwest also confirmed that it is abandoning a Las Vegas route – to and from San Jose, Costa Rica – before the inaugural flight ever took place.
A company release said Southwest is adding varying frequencies and days of the week between Reid airport and Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and Knoxville, Tennessee.
Southwest also added frequencies on routes to and from Dallas and Austin, Texas; Orlando; Detroit; New York’s LaGuardia Airport; Pensacola, Florida; and the Colorado Rocky Mountain towns of Steamboat Springs and Telluride.
A Southwest representative also confirmed Thursday that the airline has removed a Las Vegas route from its schedule before it even began flying it.
Scheduled flights between Reid and San Jose, Costa Rica — first announced in February as Southwest’s first international “redeye” flight operating late at night and during the early-morning hours — has been taken off the schedule.
In an email, a Southwest representative said the primary reason for the cancellation is recent high fuel costs and a decision to deploy aircraft in the most efficient way possible.
“A redeye operation in an international market basically takes a full plane off the board for other ops … since it will be sitting on the ground for quite some time in Costa Rica,” the email said.
The Costa Rica flight was to be among one of Southwest’s first international routes, adding to a schedule that included new flights to Cancun, San Jose del Cabo and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Costa Rica flight was set to debut in October.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
