Southwest to Add Flights to Orlando, Tampa

Southwest Airlines is picking up former Delta flights to Orlando and Tampa from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, strengthening its hold on popular Florida destinations.

Dallas-based Southwest will add a fourth daily round trip from RDU to Orlando and a third daily round trip from RDU to Tampa on Nov. 20, just in time for the busy Thanksgiving travel period.

Delta also serves Orlando and Tampa from RDU using 50-seat regional jets. But in the past year, the bankrupt carrier reduced the daily frequency of those flights.

Delta Connection has four daily round trips from RDU to Orlando, down from seven in September, and one daily round trip to Tampa, down from three a year ago.

"It's not lucrative for regional jets," said aviation consultant Mike Boyd, adding that it costs nearly twice as much for Delta Connection to operate a 50-seat regional jet than for Southwest to fly a Boeing 737 with 137 seats. Costs are less on a per-passenger basis, largely because of economies of scale with the bigger planes.

The new flights will be a welcome addition for leisure travelers and Progress Energy employees who regularly travel to Florida.

Progress owns an electric utility in Florida, and dozens of executives travel monthly from RDU to the airport at Tampa. But since Delta crimped its schedule, Progress employees make their way to Tampa via US Airways' hub in Charlotte or Delta's hub in Atlanta. What was once an hour-and-40 minute flight can now take four hours.

"Any increase in flights would be a welcome addition," said Mike Hughes, a spokesman for Progress.

Pam Seagle, co-owner of two Carlson Wagonlit travel agencies in the Triangle, said leisure travelers will like the additional flights.

"Ninety percent of the families that walk through the door taking their first vacation want to go to Disney" World, Seagle said. Tampa and Orlando also are big jumping-off spots for cruises to Mexico or the Caribbean, she said.

Last year, Orlando was the fifth-most popular destination for Triangle travelers -- ahead of both Dallas-Fort Worth and Newark -- and Tampa was 10th, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

But airlines are enjoying a record summer travel season, and getting seats to popular destinations has gotten especially difficult, Seagle said, adding that passengers can connect on Southwest to Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers from Orlando and Tampa.

"The flights are all so full, and it's because flights have been cut or the airlines have cut from large planes to 50-seat jets," Seagle said. "This is good. It's an important market."

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.