Inaugural Service to Orlando on May 6 is Southwest’s Latest in Eight New Nonstop Destinations Launched from SJC in Spring 2018
San Jose, Calif., 2018-May-08 — /Travel PR News/ — Southwest Airlines® added another important transcontinental route to its growing list of cities available nonstop from Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) on May 6, 2018, with an inaugural flight to Orlando. Book flights now at Southwest.com.
The carrier operated Florida One, Southwest’s Boeing 737-700 emblazoned with an artist’s rendering of the state flag on the inaugural flight on May 6. See photos on SJC’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
With this new service addition, Southwest fulfills a major expansion announced last August for SJC that brings 80 added weekly flights this spring. Southwest’s service to Orlando is the latest launch in a series of eight new cities, six of which were previously unserved nonstop by any airline at SJC.
“This transcontinental nonstop journey between the South Bay Area/Peninsula and Florida is another addition in a steady drumbeat of investment Southwest is making in San Jose,” said Nate Barker, Senior Capacity Planner for Southwest Airlines. “We’ve added eight timesaving new routes just this year for our loyal San Jose Customers to get to places such as Orlando, St Louis, and Spokane without a stop or a drive to another airport.”
Just last week, Southwest announced its intention to offer Hawaii service from Mineta San Jose International Airport with tickets expected to be sold this year.
The daily flight to Orlando is well-timed to depart SJC at 11:40 a.m., arriving to Florida at 7:45 p.m. The return flight leaves Orlando at 8:15 a.m., arriving to SJC at 11:00 a.m. Travel times average five hours, 30 minutes, with flights departing and arriving SJC’s Terminal B.
“We are thankful to CEO Gary Kelly and Southwest’s leadership and the carrier’s local SJC team for their ongoing commitment to Silicon Valley, including the launch of Orlando service,” said Director of Aviation John Aitken. “With Southwest’s low fares, daily service and convenient flight times, families now have the ability to fly together to Florida – and to visit grandparents, family and seven of the top theme parks in the U.S. – including Walt Disney World.”
Southwest also launched the following cities this spring from SJC:
– Albuquerque and New Orleans – Sunday service
– Boise, Houston-Hobby, Saint Louis and Spokane – daily flights
– Cabo San Lucas – Saturday service (Southwest’s first-ever international service from SJC)
SJC and Southwest began a successful partnership 25 years ago on June 1, 1993, with just two cities served through 11 daily departures. Since that time, Southwest has grown to be SJC’s largest airline with 92 departures daily to these 24 cities:
Albuquerque, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Boise, Burbank, Cabo San Lucas, Chicago/Midway, Dallas/Love Field, Denver, Houston-Hobby, Las Vegas, Los Angeles/LAX, New Orleans, Ontario, Orange County/Santa Ana, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Reno, Saint Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle and Spokane.
Southwest directly employs more than 300 people at SJC.
About Southwest Airlines Co.
In its 47th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 57,000 Employees to a Customer base topping 120 million passengers annually, in recent years. Southwest became the nation’s largest domestic air carrier in 2003 and maintains that ranking based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded. During peak travel seasons, Southwest operates more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 100 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. Southwest has announced its intention to sell tickets in 2018 for service to Hawaii, subject to requisite governmental approvals.
SJC: Transforming How Silicon Valley Travels
Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) is Silicon Valley’s airport, a self‐supporting enterprise owned and operated by the City of San José. The airport serves 13 million passengers annually, with 210 peak daily departures on 16 international and domestic carriers to 54 nonstop destinations. SJC has been America’s fastest‐growing major airport over the past two years, based on percentage increase in passenger seat capacity. For more airport information, visit flysanjose.com.
– SJC –
Contacts:
Rosemary Barnes – SJC
408-392-1199 / rbarnes@sjc.org
Southwest Airlines
214-792-4847 / swamedia@wnco.com
SOURCE: Mineta San Jose International Airport