Southwest to add new nonstop, daily flights between Sunport and Long Beach this fall

Matthew Narvaiz, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Feb. 13—The Albuquerque International Sunport on Monday announced Southwest Airlines will soon add daily, nonstop flights to and from Long Beach Airport in southern California and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The nonstop flights are expected to get off the ground starting Sept. 5.

"We've already had a great start to 2023 and with the addition of this new and expanded service, it's only getting better," Sunport Director of Aviation Richard McCurley said in a statement. "The Long Beach route will mark the third destination in the greater Los Angeles area served by the Sunport, which gives our customers more options."

Southwest — which has the largest market share at the Sunport at nearly 45% — began offering daily, nonstop flights between the Albuquerque airport and the Hollywood Burbank Airport in January 2022. That move came as New Mexico continued to see increases in direct spending in the local film industry. The Sunport's airlines also offer nonstop flights to LAX, Oakland International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.

Nonstop flights to BWI from the Sunport aren't currently active, but starting in April will be offered by Southwest once on Saturday and in July twice on the weekend, Sunport Business Development Manager Daniel Jiron told the Journal. By September, the nonstop flights to BWI will increase to daily.

"Baltimore/Washington was a route highly impacted by COVID, but we are looking forward to the resumption of daily service in September." Jiron said.

The daily Albuquerque to Long Beach flight from Southwest will depart at 12:30 p.m. MST and will arrive in Long Beach at 1:25 p.m. PST, according to the Sunport. The Albuquerque to Baltimore flight will leave at 1:30 p.m. MST and will arrive at 7:05 p.m. EST starting in September.

The Sunport has realized an increase in nonstop flights from previous years. The airport had 24 nonstop flights last year, 22 in 2021 and just 19 in 2020. There were 30 nonstop flights between the Sunport and other airports in 2012, making this year the highest active year in nonstops for New Mexico's largest airport in more than a decade.