When is Southwest Airlines reducing flights in South Florida? What it means for airports

Southwest Airlines is moving most of its international flights from Fort Lauderdale.

Here’s what to know about the change:

Where is Southwest Airlines moving its international flights?

Switch: Southwest is moving most of its international flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Internatiinal Airport to Orlando International Airport.

When will the airline switch the flights?

Departure date: The airline plans to make the change in June.

Which Southwest flights are affected?

Current flights: The carrier has six to nine daily international departures to seven destinations. The airline’s domestic flights aren’t affected.

Future flights: Starting June 4, pending government approval, the Dallas-based airline will operate daily service between Orlando and Cancun; Grand Cayman; Nassau; Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and San José, Costa Rica.

READ MORE: Miami’s airport just added new international flights. What to know about the routes

Why is Southwest Airlines shifting to Orlando?

Connections: Southwest wants to better match the carrier’s schedule to current travel patterns and get more out of the nearly 140 daily departures it already has from Orlando, according to the company. “This will offer better connectivity in our domestic network,” said Andrew M. Watterson, chief operating officer of Southwest.

Advantages: Orlando’s airport serves Florida’s biggest theme parks in Central Florida, including Universal and Walt Disney World. The airport also is the site of a new Brightline station with trains that run to and from South Florida several times a day. Orlando also has a lot many more northbound flights for Southwest than Fort Lauderdale does.And Southwest also has many crew members who live in or near Orlando, and so the carrier can also lower expenses.

What is the impact on the Fort Lauderdale airport?

Southwest’s shift to Orlando is a rare loss of service for the growing Broward County airport:

▪ Passengers: So far this year, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has served 23.7 million passengers through August, 11.1% more than during the same period in 2022. International visitors, while still relatively small at 5.3 million, were up 23.1% from the same period one year earlier. Domestic passengers have increased 8% to 18.4 million.

▪ Flights: Total arrivals and departures have also grown by 8.2% to 23,609 in the first eight months of this year.

▪ Terminals: In October, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International broke ground on a $404 million fifth airline terminal, covering 230,000 square feet and expected to be finished in 2026. That terminal will have five airline passenger gates for domestic flights, increasing the airport’s total to 71 gates, and be able to handle 4 million to 5 million more passengers.

▪ Market share: Southwest has been an important carrier at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport, holding the third largest market share at 12.9% through August of this year behind Spirit and JetBlue. Yet it has fallen in recent years. In January, it was 14.1%. Last August, Southwest’s market share was 14.7%. It was 20% in August 2019, before the pandemic.

▪ International: Only about 16% of Southwest’s total passengers at Fort Lauderdale have been international.

▪ Destinations: Other carriers at Fort Lauderdale serve several Southwest destinations. JetBlue and Spirit fly to Cancun. JetBlue goes to Grand Cayman, and Bahamas Air, Silver and Western Air serve Nassau. JetBlue and Spirit each fly to Punta Cana.