Southwest Airlines Ready To Stake Claim To Northeast Market No-Frills Airline Plans To Announce New Service Within A Month

Southwest Airlines’ long-awaited entry into the heavily populated Northeast U.S. markets could be just around the corner.

Chairman Herb Kelleher said last week that “we’re on the verge of making a new selection” and that he expects to announce within a month the name of the city that Southwest will begin serving this year.

The Dallas carrier, which had its annual shareholders meeting Thursday at its Love Field headquarters, had previously declined to comment on reports that it is studying airports in Hartford, Conn.; Providence, R.I.; Manchester, N.H.; and Newburgh, N.Y., as entry points for its expansion into the Northeast.

Kelleher, however, left open the possibility that Southwest might launch service to a city in another region. In any case, he said, only one city will be added this year to the carrier’s route map.

Of the 20 new Boeing 737s scheduled to join the carrier’s fleet this year, 11 are earmarked for expansion of Southwest’s operations in Florida. The carrier launched service to Florida this year. But results have been better than expected, Kelleher said.

“Beyond Florida, we’re very interested in getting a bigger presence in the Northeast,” he said. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to do that. We’ve been to all the airports up there. We’ve been talking to them, trying to figure out not only what the situation is on the ground but how they are in the air.

“You know, you can have airports that are widely separated on the ground, but if they’re subject to the same air traffic control congestion, which is basically New York City, it doesn’t do you a lot of good. So we’re looking for airports that are relatively user-friendly on the ground, and (where) you’re not going to get zapped in the air.”

Part of Southwest’s unusual but highly successful operating formula is its avoiding congested airports in major metropolitan areas. By so doing, Southwest gets more productivity out of its aircraft by getting them in and out of an airport typically in 20 minutes.

The Northeast is the last major region of the nation in which Southwest has no presence. The closest it gets is Baltimore/Washington International Airport and Cleveland.