Southwest continues to show support for St. Louis travelers with another announcement for expanded service out of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Southwest is adding nine flights to its May 2010 schedule. Six of the flights will be new destinations from Lambert for the Dallas-based carrier. The new Southwest destinations are Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, San Diego, Raleigh-Durham and Los Angeles. An additional daily flight to Minneapolis is also part of the expanded service.
The new Southwest service is in direct response to the major cutback recently announced by American Airlines. American will cut 46 flights and eliminate 20 destinations from Lambert in 2010. The new Southwest service adds back four of the destinations that would have been completely lost to St. Louis travelers because of the cutbacks by American in the last year: Nashville, New Orleans, San Diego and Raleigh-Durham. In 2010, Southwest Airlines will become Lambert’s dominant carrier.
“We have a great relationship with Southwest and we knew that it could be the first to capitalize on destinations that have proven very successful in this market,” said Richard Hrabko, Lambert’s Director. “The new service shows that St. Louis is still a strong local market and we’re working hard to make connections to other cities that face lost service in the coming months.”
Southwest announced earlier this month it’s also adding an additional daily flight to Baltimore, Dallas, Las Vegas and Orlando beginning in March. Twice daily service from Lambert to Minneapolis and Boston begins in January. After the May schedule, Southwest will be operating about 83 flights a day from Lambert to 31 destinations.

Lambert - St. Louis International Airport
Lambert Airport web site