Southwest to Serve Boston Logan

By now you may have heard the news that beginning in Fall 2009, Southwest will commence service to Boston Logan Airport. Southwest, which has long avoided Logan, preferring to serve the region through Providence, RI and Manchester, NH, plans to start its operations with only two gates, an indication that the carrier will probably not have more than 15-20 flights a day to start. Like most Southwest expansion announcements, the airline has not released routes or a timetable yet, though it is likely that the first flights from the airport will be to Chicago and Baltimore, with other cities such as Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Denver, and Phoenix also in contention for early flights. Boston appears to be a candidate for rapid expansion for Southwest, because, while there is no dominant carrier at the airport, and hence, little loyalty among business travelers (especially those looking for nonstop flights), fares are still relatively high, enabling Southwest to make a dent in the market quickly.

This announcement is not really a surprise; Southwest has changed course in the past few years, opting to serve busier airports in order to get more business traffic. What will be interesting, however, is seeing not only how quickly Southwest expands, but whether it will succeed in stealing business travelers from JetBlue and AirTran, both of which offer competing low-fare services from the airport. Both carriers pose tough competition, and have the advantage of being the incumbents in the market. JetBlue, especially, offers nonstop flights to many business markets, such as Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. However, Southwest will likely find its niche, provided that the carrier offers reasonable fares and does not rely simply on the connectivity of its Chicago and Baltimore hubs, but offers a wide array of nonstop flights to suit the needs of business travelers.

Another question posed by this expansion is the fate of both Providence and Manchester. Both of these airports will almost certainly remain within Southwest's network, but they could see reduced growth (and perhaps even a few flights leaving the airports) as more passengers closer to Boston proper choose Southwest's Logan services. But even with reduced growth, Southwest will still be the dominant carrier at both airports. At Providence Southwest currently has approximately 33 daily flights, at Manchester, approximately 29. These airports have proven that they can sustain these levels of flights even with lower fares at Logan from JetBlue's and AirTran's presence. Provided most passengers are using these airports for their convenience, and not simply because Southwest serves them, then these service levels should not be adversely impacted in any material way from Southwest's addition of services at Logan.

Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement from the carrier in the months ahead about destinations from Logan. The competition could heat up come fall.