Southwest to Add Reagan – Lambert Link

Southwest Airlines has confirmed it will begin service between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) with a twice daily non-stop offering from September 30, 2012. The low-cost carrier launched operations from Washington National on July 8, 2012 with a daily link to Austin and its network expansion has been made possible by the recent approval to its request to purchase four inside-perimeter slots at DCA.

The new route will place the low-cost carrier in direct competition with American Airlines which currently offers direct flights between the two airports through its regional subsidiary American Eagle using Bombardier CRJ 700s. United Airlines also provides indirect competition with flights to Lambert St Louis International from Washington Dulles, again flown by regional partners in the form of ExpressJet Airlines, GoJet Airlines, Shuttle America and Trans States Airlines.

In 2011, approximately 319,000 O&D passengers flew between Washington’s two airports and St Louis with 71.1 per cent of this estimated traffic flying from Washington National. Southwest Airlines already has a small presence in this market and carried a nominal number (around 4.3 per cent) of passengers via other points in its domestic US network. The arrival of Southwest Airlines will boost seat capacity between Washington and St Louis by 61.8 per cent with the low-cost carrier holding a 28.2 per cent share of the seat capacity.

This marks the latest growth for Southwest in St Louis, a market the carrier has continuously grown since first launching flights more than 25 years ago. As the table below illustrates, the low-cost carrier is the largest operator from the city with a 49.8 per cent capacity share and Washington National will be the 34th non-stop destination on its route map. The airline recently added flights to markets such as Newark, Nashville, New Orleans, Raleigh-Durham, Milwaukee, and Seattle and will begin services to both New York LaGuardia and San Antonio from August 12, 2012.