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Southwest comes to Eugene in a predictable fashion

April 19, 2021 00:00:00


Southwest Airlines recently announced the destinations it will serve out of Eugene, Oregon, Simple Flying reported.

Eugene was announced as part of a recent expansion and will officially be in the airline's network from August 29.

Starting with three daily flights, Southwest is serving the city from two very predictable markets.

Out of Eugene Airport (EUG) in Oregon, Southwest will launch three daily nonstop flights from August 29th. Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) will see one daily flight, while Oakland International Airport (OAK) will see two daily flights to Eugene.

"We welcome new Customers to Southwest as we continue an expansion across the nation to bring additional service and open new cities. The addition of Eugene to our map positions easy access to Southwest all around Track Town USA, and is a request from leisure and business travelers who value our flexibility and Hospitality."

Southwest's Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Watterson made the comment following on coming to Eugene

In early March, Southwest Airlines announced its intention to serve Eugene and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Bellingham, Washington.

When Southwest announced it would add flights from Eugene, two top new contenders for routes out of the city were Oakland and Las Vegas, and those are the cities getting services from Eugene.

While there will be some origin and destination demand, the two new services are part of Southwest's recent expansion trends.

Southwest saw a dip in the number of travellers who flew nonstop with the carrier in 2020.

While a vast majority of its passengers still flew nonstop, Southwest flew fewer city pairs in 2020 than it did in 2019, which means more of its passengers flying between the same cities would need to connect, on top of the existing percentage of travellers who connect through a Southwest base like Houston, Dallas, Baltimore, Las Vegas, or Oakland.

As Southwest has added new cities, with some exceptions, the carrier has mostly added new cities by connecting them with the airline's bases.

In this manner, the airline has pivoted slightly toward a hub-and-spoke model. Most passengers going to and from Eugene are likely to be passengers who connect in Oakland or Las Vegas.

Hub-and-spoke models have an advantage. Airlines can schedule aircraft, crew, and staff efficiently, and adding incremental capacity comes at a lower cost than other new routes. Plus, the airline has a better chance at keeping its planes full by having a fallback with connecting passengers from other cities.

One major exception to Southwest's latest strategy has been Myrtle Beach, which is receiving a whopping ten new routes to cities far and wide, including bases and other points in the airline's network.

In addition, even after the airline has announced a new city and announced initial flights, it has gone back and added flights to new destinations after seeing what initial demand looks like.

While airlines do have a pretty solid idea of where passengers are looking to book and what kinds of destinations they want to visit, sometimes demand materialisation can be a pleasant surprise.


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