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Southwest to Add Service to 4 New Cities From Denver Airport

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Sarah Colwell, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jun. 6--Southwest Airlines will add service and 12 more flights to four new cities from Denver International Airport this summer, the company announced said Monday.

Southwest decided made the decision to expand service at Denver International Airport because of its Denver service based on the success of its current 20 daily nonstop flights there. Since Southwest began its Denver service in January, it has become Denver's fourth-largest carrier and has contributed to a 9.6 percent increase in passengers at DIA through March, according to DIA's most recent statistics.

"Southwest is extremely pleased with the response we have gotten from customers in the Denver market, and Southwest is delivering on the promise we made to increase service in response to customer demand," said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines vice president of marketing, sales and distribution.

Beginning July 17,On July 17, Southwest will begin one daily non-stop round--trip flight between Denver and Houston Hobby, and plusadditional non-stop flights to Baltimore/Washington, Chicago Midway and Phoenix.

On Aug. 4, the Dallas-based airline will begin four new daily non-stop round-trip flights between Denver and Kansas City, and daily non-stop round-trip flights to Orlando and Nashville.

Southwest began service to Denver on Jan. 3 with 13 flights, and three months later added seven nonstops out of the Rocky Mountain hub. With the new flights, Southwest will have 32 nonstop daily departures from DIA serving nine cities.

Colorado Springs Director of Aviation, Mark Earle, said the expansion of Southwest was expected.

"It doesn't change anything as far as Colorado Springs is concerned. We've had low-fare service at DIA for years. It is just another option for people who are willing to drive to Denver for low-fare service," Earle said. "We didn't see a loss in traffic when they (Southwest) came to Denver, and we don't foresee losses as Southwest adds service."

Experts agree.

"We know this much, Southwest is going to continue to build up in Denver," said Virginia-based aviation consultant Darryl Jenkins. "I doubt it will impact (Colorado Springs) at all. If it does, it will be very marginal."

Any impact Southwest would have on the Colorado Springs market has already been felt,done, said Evergreen-based aviation consultant Mike Boyd.

"This is just an internal cat fight among airlines. This is Southwest's attempt to claw passengers away from Frontier and United," Boyd said.

The growth in Denver could increase the possibility of Southwest coming to Colorado Springs, Boyd said, because as the airline is not likely to willnotcome south until is has secured a large percentage of the Denver market share. That could take at least three years, because or more since, as of March, Southwest secured about 3.25 percent of the market share compared with Frontier Airlines' 18 percent share hold of the market and the more-than-34-percent share held by United Airlines.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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LUV, FRNT, UAUA,

Source: The Gazette

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