Summary Southwest operates one in 25 of the world's flights in August 2024. It serves 45 states, with California having the most departures. While Massachusetts has declined the most compared to before the pandemic, California is also severely impacted.
Southwest is the world's fourth-largest airline. In August 2024, it has 120,000 services, equivalent to 3,870 daily. Only American, Delta, and United are larger.
Southwest, which will begin its first red-eye services soon, is so large that it operates one in 25 of the world's flights. The carrier now has 816 Boeing 737-700s, 737-800s, and 737 MAX 8s. Southwest's top 10 states The carrier's network comprises 45 states, including the District of Columbia and the US territory of Puerto Rico.
Analyzing Cirium schedules data shows that three in 10 Southwest flights touch its top 10 states. Unsurprisingly, Southwest has more departures from California than anywhere else. It has about 19,600 one-way flights (double for both ways) and 200+ routes.
While it has a quarter of the state's total services, its share is nowhere near as significant as in the much smaller states of Nevada (41% of flights), Maryland (69%), and Missouri (46%). Southwest's heavy Californian presence is influenced by its many high-frequency intrastate airport pairs and numerous flights from neighboring Arizona and Nevada. These short markets account for 65% of the airline's California operations.
Want tickets? Find them here! Of the top 10 states, Southwest is the largest carrier in California, Nevada, Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee, most without a large hub operator. It is number two in Florida (behind American), Colorado (behind United), and Arizona (behind American). It is third in Texas (after American and United) and Illinois (after United and American).
How things have changed versus 2019 In August 2019, before the pandemic, Southwest had about 119,000 roundtrip flights. Five years later, it has 120,000, so they have risen by less than 1%. In contrast, US short-haul flights on all airlines are still 8% lower than before.
Returning to Southwest's states, Mississippi rejoined its network in 2021 after being last served in 2014, while Montana was served for the first time in 2021. Southwest ceased flying to New Jersey in 2019 when it pulled out of Newark to consolidate at New York LaGuardia. Of the states served in 2019 and 2024, some 21 have fewer flights now, while 20 have grown.
One remains unchanged. The figure below shows the 10 states with the biggest % flight increases and decreases. It does not show them all.
Hawaii has grown considerably, but this is misleading, as Southwest only entered the market in 2019. While Hawaii is Southwest's 12th most-served state in August 2024, it has nearly half as many flights as 10th-ranked Tennessee. As such, it is unlikely to join the top 10.
In comparison, Massachusetts – which has never been an important state for Southwest – has seen flights reduced by a hefty 31%. It has fallen three places to 27th, now only marginally ahead of Nebraska. Despite California being Southwest's most-served state, flights are 14% lower than before the pandemic.
When actual cuts are considered, Southwest's size means California is the worst-impacted state. It has 3,200+ fewer August departures than it did. This is mainly because of significant cuts to its intrastate operation from lower business travel.
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