Southwest Airlines will end 16 daily routes on Jan. 6, a
move the carrier said is a routine adjustment to its flight schedule based upon
demand.
"The move allows us to offer itineraries with as little
as one stop between these cities, while allowing us to better utilize our
people and planes on routes that warrant new or additional service," a
Southwest spokesman wrote in an email.
Among the daily routes to be discontinued are four that
serve Los Angeles, three that serve Boston, three that serve Dallas Love Field
and three that serve Orlando.
Southwest will also add routes in January. Notably, the
carrier announced last week that it would launch eight Hawaii routes in
mid-January, including the carrier's first service to Kauai and its first
flights to Hilo on the island of Hawaii.
The grounding of the Boeing 737 Max has placed significant
constraints on the airline's schedule. It had planned to be flying 75 Max
planes by the end of the year. The carrier now expects to operate 11% less
capacity during the fourth quarter than it had originally planned. Southwest
has removed the Max from its schedule through July 5, 2020, but after that
plans to bring them back into the fleet gradually.
The routes that Southwest will discontinue are:
Austin-San Francisco
Boston-Atlanta
Boston-Kansas City
Boston-Milwaukee
Columbus, Ohio-Oakland
Los Angeles-Omaha
Los Angeles-Pittsburgh
Los Angeles-Puerto Rico
Dallas-Jacksonville
Dallas-San Francisco
Dallas-Oklahoma City
Fort Lauderdale-Jacksonville
Orlando-Oakland
Orlando-San Jose
Orlando-Sacramento.