Spokane7
65°
July 27, 2011 in Business
Southwest to abandon Seattle-Spokane route
Service will cease in January
Southwest Airlines will discontinue direct flights between Spokane and Seattle in January, reducing passenger choices in getting to the West Coast air corridor.
The announcement is part of a cost-cutting package of schedule changes that will result in 102 fewer flights for the nationwide carrier.
Southwest’s two inbound flights from Seattle and two companion departures from Spokane are being cut, leaving no direct service to Seattle on Southwest.
Spokane passengers will still be able to get to Southwest destinations through Portland and other hub cities such as Denver and Phoenix. Southwest also is maintaining service from Spokane to Boise, Oakland and Las Vegas.
The changes were announced Monday for the period from Jan. 8 through March 9, 2012.
Airline officials said the shifts in capacity of the Southwest system are due to a seasonal slowing of demand during the winter and an effort to match the supply of routes and seats to passenger needs.
They also described the moves as “a continued pruning of unproductive flying due to high fuel costs.”
Brad Hawkins, spokesman for Southwest, said the change represents a shift in resources to maximize efficiency.
“The economics of the flight weren’t working for us,” Hawkins said.
Expansion of service from Denver in recent years has been an advantage for Spokane passengers because it provides new connections to U.S. destinations. Southwest has 140 daily flights out of Denver.
Todd Woodard, spokesman for Spokane International Airport, said, “Obviously we are disappointed.”
He said that leaves Alaska Air/Horizon Airlines as the only carrier serving Seattle directly from Spokane. Alaska/Horizon is continuing its 20 daily flights between the two cities.
Spokane airport officials have asked Alaska Air Group to consider increasing service to and from Seattle to absorb the extra potential demand.
Spokane was not alone in the Southwest cuts. Boise lost its Seattle service along with cuts in service to Reno and Salt Lake City. Similar cuts were made to routes around the country.
Woodard said the flights being lost amount to 4 percent of total departures from Spokane and 5 percent of seats into and out of Spokane.
Southwest apparently is having a hard time filling airplanes, Woodard said. Reports show they had operated at 54 percent capacity and that about half of those passengers travel only between Spokane and Seattle and don’t catch connecting flights.
Woodard said he does not expect fares to increase because Alaska/Horizon must still compete with the automobile.
MLK Jr. Way opens Thursday 
Spokane_Citizen on July 27 at 5:59 a.m.
I, for one, am rejoicing. This is great news; it’s the invisible hand of the transportation free market at work, and will lead to greater efficiencies and better service for carrier destinations that better deserve this intelligent reallocation of private capital. This is absolutely how it’s supposed to work.
I say, good show, Southwest Airlines!
JBlim on July 27 at 6:46 a.m.
Spokane Citizen, you can also thank Jimmy Carter for signing the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978 and the House and Senate which were controlled by the Democrats.
pjc on July 27 at 9:01 a.m.
Spokane Citizen: The article states:
He said that leaves Alaska Air/Horizon Airlines as the only carrier serving Seattle directly from Spokane. Alaska/Horizon is continuing its 20 daily flights between the two cities.
Is 20 daily flights not enough? TWENTY flights per day. I would think the invisible hand it doing pretty well by reducing the inefficiencies - Southwest decided it wasn’t profitable in light of costs.
Prior to airline deregulation, only the elites flew because it was so bloody expensive. Deregulation has been a boon for airline travelers because it made it extremely affordable.
southie4573 on July 27 at 9:08 a.m.
This is NOT good news. Are you kidding me. We have to rely on Alaska Air now for everything to Seattle. United has ditched GEG and now SW. Consider the economic impact of less flights to GEG - it makes Spokane less attractive for investiment in the area.
Maybe Virgin America will come here - yeah right!
pjc on July 27 at 9:26 a.m.
Yeah, you are correct 20 flights per day is not enough.
93bird on July 27 at 10:11 a.m.
Twice a week for two years I flew back and forth across the state on Southwest. Most of the time it was because their one way fares were much cheaper than gas, $29. However, it didn’t save much time. If I pushed it, I could drive one way in a little over 4 hours. A flight one way takes three including all the waiting before and after landing. Moreover, most places in the U.S. can be reached more efficiently by flying East to Denver or Minneapolis. I for one much prefer to drive to Seattle and back now. Unless I’m flying to Alaska, I don’t really care if there is air service between Seattle and Spokane, although I understand the need.
spokanecougar on July 27 at 10:13 a.m.
This is not good news. Southwest charges about $150-$200 to fly round trip to Seattle while Alaska charges $300-$400 to fly round trip to Seattle when they had competition. What do you think Alaska will charge now that they have no competition on this route?
Also, it would be nice for our Airport and its director to actually try and increase our flying options out of Spokane. While having a nice airport is good I guess but it kinda sucks when half the airport and gates are empty. Why did they need to build a whole separate terminal for Alaska Airlines while more than half the gates in concourses A and B are not, and have never been used. Maybe instead of focusing on remolding terminals which don’t need it or straightening and expanding the runway to accommodate bigger planes that never land here, our Airport director should focus on bringing more airline options and competition to this area which in turn bring down prices.
pmbrown49 on July 27 at 10:42 a.m.
Oh well, there’s always the Empire Builder to Seattle leaving at 2:15AM!
I, too, flew SWA to Seattle 3 roundtrips per week for over 2 years pre-9/11. I agree with 93bird in that with having to get to the airport an hour before departure and then hiking about 15 minutes through the Sea-Tac terminal then another 30-40 minutes to get to DT Seattle almost makes driving easier except in winter.
You will, no doubt never see a GEG-SEA fare on Alaska under $80-90 each way when SWA leaves GEG.
pjc on July 27 at 10:46 a.m.
You certainly have alternatives:
Drive your car or motorcycle
Take the bus
Take the train
Southwest exists to make money. Southwest is one of the few profitable and responsible airlines because they understand which routes make money and which routes don’t make money. If you require Southwest to keep every undesirable and nonprofitable route, then they will go out of business in short order. Why do you think Southwest flights are so cheap?
Shadedmuse on July 27 at 11:49 a.m.
We need high speed rail linking Seattle and Spokane, where you can comute daily on High speed rail in less then an hour. We need High speed rail to bankrupt the Airline industry and tell these money grubbing tax free loaders to go pound sand.
de3 on July 27 at 12:25 p.m.
Shadedmuse - STA plans to extend the electric trolley bus from downtown Spokane to downtown Seattle. For sure.
de3 on July 27 at 12:26 p.m.
20 flights? Only if you count the transfers through Portland, switch planes, and then on to Seattle. Faster to drive.
southie4573 on July 27 at 1:28 p.m.
The stupidity of comments on here is stunning. No wonder why SW is leaving. Why would you want only one airline to service GEG from SEA. Southwest keeps the flights cheap for us. Right now at Alaska they are raising the fares to Spokane.. Laughing all the way to the bank.
Mark my words - Soon Alaska will cut back flights and increase airfares - WHY? Because their is no competition.
Competition keeps the airfares low.
What a joke!
Orphan on July 27 at 2:59 p.m.
We cant afford high speed rail from here to Seattle the ticket cost would much more than flying. Shademuse most likely thinks the goverment could subsidise it at no cost to us, ROTFLMAO.
pmbrown49 on July 27 at 4:44 p.m.
For what it would cost to build a high speed rail corridor from Spokane to Seattle, it would be cheaper to give everyone a free airplane ticket or voucher.
The Sounder (Sound Transit train) in Puget Sound is a joke. They charge $4.75 each way from Seattle to Tacoma, but it’s highly subsidized by the taxpayer. Some say the real cost is over $100 each way.
SWA is a smart business model…free market system at work.
Spokane_Citizen on July 27 at 6:05 p.m.
The free market knows all, does all.
Nobody is forcing a single one of the whiners to fly to Seattle…you’ve got other choices….and we don’t need light rail either. The Spokane market just isn’t important enough to generate sufficient airline fare revenue….simple as that. This town is really more of a bus market (you can pack your own smelly lunches, and glare at each other, as you frugally cruise across the pass, stopping in towns more of your liking…bustling and dynamic burgs like Ritzville or Schrag)….and it’s time the citizens acknowledged that Spokane is (and should forever remain) a town of grumpy retired limited income entitlement dependent people who hate government, and who generally don’t go much of anywhere, anyway….statistically speaking.
It’s also about time the federal government stopped funding airport development, especially in places like Alaska. If citizens want to fly, they need to pay full freight.
DickAdams on July 27 at 7:48 p.m.
Spokane citizen you say “its time the citizens acknowledged that Spokane is (and should forever remain) a town of grumpy retired limited income entitlement dependent people who hate government, and who generally don’t go much of anywhere, anyway….statistically speaking”. I`m not sure about the grumpy retired entitlement senior grey haired panthers who you say hate government even though they are on the government teat. Its not hate as much as wanting their children to pay for services they are receiving and asking for more and more and merely don`t give a damn who pays their bills. To heck with the freeloaders.
DickAdams on July 27 at 7:48 p.m.
Spokane citizen you say “its time the citizens acknowledged that Spokane is (and should forever remain) a town of grumpy retired limited income entitlement dependent people who hate government, and who generally don’t go much of anywhere, anyway….statistically speaking”. I`m not sure about the grumpy retired entitlement senior grey haired panthers who you say hate government even though they are on the government teat. Its not hate as much as wanting their children to pay for services they are receiving and asking for more and more and merely don`t give a damn who pays their bills. To heck with the freeloaders.
westerly on July 28 at 5:44 p.m.
Spokane just doesn’t have the population to support SWA flights….period.