Southwest Airlines will add new network points for the first time in five years in 2026, moving away from a post-pandemic strategy focused exclusively on building up service at airports already on its map.
The airline revealed it will begin flights to the U.S. Virgin Islands in “early 2026.” Southwest did not say from which U.S. airport it will serve Cyril E. King International Airport (STT) on the island of St. Thomas, nor a specific launch date.
The carrier said STT will be the first of three additions to its network to be announced this summer, with flights to the new points starting in 2026.
As it maneuvered through financial struggles and unveiled a series of changes to its business model—including adding bag fees, assigned seating and premium offerings—the airline shied away from starting service at new airports.
With the revamped model set to take effect in the first quarter of 2026, CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement that the time is right to add new destinations again. “This is another meaningful step in our ongoing transformation,” he said.
Jordan said in May at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York that Southwest is “going to be thoughtful” as it adds new destinations, which he said could be expected in 2026. “We're going to step through the [network expansion] strategy question carefully,” he said. “The next strategy questions drag with them larger implications, things potentially like fleet. So we'll be thoughtful.”
Southwest had signaled it was eyeing an expanded network when it asked the U.S. Transportation Department in May for blanket authority to operate scheduled flights to U.S. open skies partners.
While STT is not an international destination, it does expand the airline’s network in the Caribbean, joining Aruba, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Beyond the Caribbean, Southwest offers international service to Belize, two destinations in Costa Rica and three in Mexico.
“We've been serving international markets for over a decade—closer in, Caribbean, Mexico, that kind of thing,” Jordan said at the Bernstein conference. “But the open skies application is really intended just to make these processes easier. So, as we decide that we want to move into other geographies, it makes that decision and then re-upping that decision [smoother]—just simplifies everything.”
Football Flights
Meanwhile, Southwest said it will be adding 113 flights to its schedule this fall to transport football fans to college and National Football League (NFL) games. This will include 17 one-off roundtrips on routes it does not normally serve, such as Columbus, Ohio–Seattle for the Sept. 27 game between Ohio State University and the University of Washington in Seattle.
Other one-off roundtrips will include San Francisco–New Orleans for the Sept. 14 NFL game between the 49ers and Saints in New Orleans; and Kansas City, Missouri–Buffalo, New York, for the Nov. 2 matchup between the Chiefs and Bills in upstate New York.
Following a strategy deployed by fellow Dallas-based carrier American Airlines, Southwest will increase frequencies on existing routes from five points—Chicago Midway; Cleveland; Dallas Love Field and El Paso in Texas; and Denver—to Las Vegas to transport fans interested in pairing seeing their team play the hometown Raiders with a weekend in the popular tourist destination.
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