Southwest Airlines recently celebrated an additional a nonstop Sunday flight route from the Long Beach Airport to the the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Southwest will also offer additional service out of Long Beach to other locations later this year, the airline announced on Monday, Jan. 9, not long after a weeklong internal collapse left holiday travelers stranded across the country.
The addition of new flights appear to signal Southwest’s continued recovery from the meltdown, which led to 13,000 flight cancellations in a little more than one week — beginning on the eve of the busiest holiday travel season.
The company apologized to customers and vowed to get back to normal operations following a public outcry and weighty criticism from government leaders. By Friday, Dec. 30, the airline’s operations were largely back to normal across the region, after Southwest cut back to a third of its operations to allow its fraught system to catch up.
Southwest’s recovery bodes well for the Long Beach Airport — as the airline occupies 40 of LGB’s 53 currently available daily flight slots. The rest are occupied by Delta Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and UPS.
Three flight slots were previously used by American Airlines, but that company recently announced it would discontinue all service from LGB because of the route’s poor financial performance.
The Long Beach Airport hosted the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Band to celebrate Southwest’s first flight to New Orleans on Sunday, Jan. 8. The group performed a second line parade for departing passengers.
“Southwest’s new route to the Big Easy gives our community members another convenient option,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a Monday statement, “while also connecting more travelers nationwide to our award-winning airport.”
Southwest’s new flights to New Orleans will depart LGB at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays and arrive in Louisiana at 6 p.m. The return flight departs New Orleans at 4:55 p.m. and arrives back at LGB at 7:15 p.m., the announcement said.
The route was originally intended to be a seasonal service through March, but has been extended through at least July 10.
In addition to the new Sunday flight route, Southwest provides year-round daily service from Long Beach to New Orleans through connecting flights or same-plane service on the airline’s network.
Southwest also recently announced plans to offer nonstop flights to Florida’s Orlando International Airport on a seasonal basis — with the first plane expected to depart in July. Southwest will also offer twice-daily service to Chicago’s Midway International Airport on weekdays.
Source: Orange County Register
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