Southwest Airlines will shut down its Spokane to Portland flights in January, the airline announced.

The decision follows Southwest’s move to drop service to Seattle at the start of this year.

Southwest flies two flights to and from Portland daily.

In terms of total passengers, Portland is the second most-frequent destination from Spokane, according to federal transportation numbers.

Seattle ranks ahead of Portland.

With six flights daily, Alaska Airlines flies more passengers to and from Portland than Southwest does, the data show.

For a full description of the impact, go to this story on Spokesman.com.

Southwest Airlines has announced it is trimming four flights each day between Seattle and Spokane starting Jan. 8, reducing passenger choices in getting to the West Coast air corridor.

The announcement on Monday was part of a package of schedule changes that will result in 102 fewer flights in a cost-cutting move by the nationwide carrier.

The two current inbound flights from Seattle and the two departures from Spokane to Seattle are being cut, leaving no direct flights between Spokane and Seattle on Southwest.

Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air have been strong in serving that corridor over the years.

Spokane passengers will still be able to get to Southwest destinations through Portland and other hub cities such as Denver and Phoenix.

The changes were published Monday for the period from Jan. 8 through March 9.

Southwest Airlines is looking to fix its relationships with about 15 North Idaho state legislators.

A story in Wednesday's Spokesman-Review noted the 15 are irked by a change in Southwest's flights between Boise and Spokane. All 15 were using a 2:35 p.m. afternoon flight on Fridays to get back to North Idaho for the weekend.

Southwest eliminated that flight a week ago. In order not to have to wait until the 9 p.m. flight for Spokane, Idaho's legislative leaders will convene Friday sessions an hour earlier to let the group get out in time to catch a 1 p.m. flight home.

Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, was burned enough to write a note to the Southwest CEO. In the story Wednesday, Henderson said he got a canned reply.

Southwest Spokeswoman Michelle Agnew sent us a message today saying the airline is going to be more repsonsive. “I was able to confirm our Customer Relations Team did respond with a letter to Rep. Henderson on Feb. 11. We have a customer relations rep following up with Rep. Henderson's office today.”