Southwest Airlines adds 42 new flights for the NFL football season

Southwest Airlines is the latest carrier to add special one-off flights for sports fans.

This time, the Dallas-based airline will launch 42 new flights for the duration of the upcoming 17-week NFL season. Though Southwest is the official airline of the Baltimore Ravens, the carrier’s new flights don’t just cover Ravens games.

You’ll find the full list of new services below. Note that these one-off flights will operate on days before and after the games that they are supporting.

Perks of flying: How to quickly earn the Southwest Companion Pass

The new flights are already available for sale on Southwest.com. None of them are new routes for the airline; they’ll just supplement existing frequencies in each market.

“With football season around the corner, we’re responding to demand we’re already seeing for the fall with adding more flights to complement the best routes in the sky. On Southwest, these flights come with our winning combo of the value and flexibility Customers know and love and we look forward to welcoming them onboard as they cheer on their hometown teams,” said Daniel Smith, director of network planning, in a statement to TPG.

While Southwest is the first major airline to add additional service for NFL games — ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air recently announced new one-off flights for NFL games — the strategy of boosting service for in-demand events isn’t novel.

For years, airlines have been boosting service for big-ticket events like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. While these events often draw the attention of aviation enthusiasts thanks to a flurry of private jet activity, they can also yield some interesting one-off commercial flights, such as Shanghai to Las Vegas.

In fact, Southwest recently published additional services for the upcoming college football season. The airline added 12 flights, three of which are on routes not currently served by the carrier.

Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly Aviation newsletter.

Other carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, have also added limited-time flights for college football fans.

While the airlines can no doubt take advantage of increased demand for these matchups, they must have extra capacity during these time periods to support these flights.

Seemingly, the carriers think that it’ll be a worthwhile investment. Whether that bet will pay off is anyone’s guess, but at least there will be additional nonstop options to take you right to the action.

Southwest’s new NFL flights

Week 1

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Kansas City International Airport (MCI) in Missouri
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Week 2

Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
Chicago’s Midway International Airport (MDW) and Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and Dallas Love Field (DAL)

Week 3

BWI and DAL
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) and Nashville International Airport (BNA)

Fee hike: Southwest raises fees for EarlyBird check-in, Upgraded Boarding to as much as $149

Week 4

BUF and BWI
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) and Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)

Week 5

BUF and HOU
MSY and MCI

Week 6

PIT and LAS

Week 7

BWI and Tampa International Airport (TPA)

Route map update: Southwest adds 7 new routes, phases out 4 others in latest network shake-up

Week 8

MCI and LAS

Week 9

MDW and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)

Week 10

BUF and Indianapolis International Airport (IND)

Week 11

MCI and BUF
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and BNA

Week 14

BUF and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Week 15

BWI and MSY
LAS and ATL

Note that there are currently no extra flights for games scheduled for weeks 12, 13, 16, 17 and 18.

Related reading: