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    A Day In The Life Of Southwest’s Largest Cargo Operation

    Jan. 7, 2015
    The airline's largest cargo station is actually in Los Angeles, even though LAX is only the airline’s tenth largest station in terms of number of departures.

    Source The Cranky Flier

    In LA, the airline pushes through more than 30 million pounds of cargo every year. That’s over 80,000 pounds a day, about the same weight as one empty 737-700.
    In LA, the airline pushes through more than 30 million pounds of cargo every year. That’s over 80,000 pounds a day, about the same weight as one empty 737-700.

    I was surprised to learn that Southwest’s largest cargo station is actually in Los Angeles, even though LAX is only the airline’s tenth largest station in terms of number of departures. In LA, the airline pushes through more than 30 million pounds of cargo every year. That’s over 80,000 pounds a day, about the same weight as one empty 737-700. That might sound like a lot, but it’s not in the grand scheme of things. LAX in total handled more than 3.5 BILLION pounds of cargo in 2013. And if you’re curious what Southwest’s second largest market is… so am I. The airline wouldn’t tell me for some strange reason.

    But Southwest does offer cargo service in all of its cities except for a handful of smaller, original AirTran stations (Dayton, Akron/Canton, Flint, Des Moines, Portland, and the international stations) along with Panama City in Florida. Apparently they had it in Panama City but the demand was so low that they pulled it completely. Southwest also offers cargo delivery into Canada and Mexico through interline agreements. That’s pretty unique for an airline that won’t interline its passengers at all.

    More details here.