Southwest Airlines today announced that they are acquiring AirTran Airways. And with that move, Southwest will enter the Charlotte market.
Analysis: This is a game changing move in U.S. aviation. Southwest Airlines was weakest in the southeast. Buying AirTran, with a good-sized operation in Atlanta, fills that hole. AirTran offers LUV some nice side pieces as well, including extra slots at LaGuardia and entry in Washington’s Reagan National. AirTran also has a fair number of flights flights from Baltimore-Washington and Orlando, both of which are key Southwest bases.
While I could imagine certain destinations being dropped after the merger, Charlotte is very likely to remain. It’s the biggest market Southwest doesn’t serve behind only Atlanta.
Possible CLT impact: The big constraint for getting Southwest to come to CLT has generally been thought to be gates. AirTran makes not particularly heavy use of two gates on A Concourse here. This past summer they offered a daily flight to Orlando, two flights a day to BWI, and up to four flights a day to Atlanta. Southwest could operate up to 15 to 18 flights a day from those two gates. Look for Southwest in time to add extra flights to BWI and Orlando, probably a Tampa flight or two, and a couple of flights to Chicago Midway plus maybe a daily flight to one or more of Denver, Phoenix, or Las Vegas. Nashville is also a possibility.
