Southwest Airlines has added nine new and returning routes to its network, including its first-ever nonstop flight between Columbus and San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of a broader rollout that begins in stages over the next two years. The airline said seven routes started on June 4 and 13 more were set to take off on June 6, while several of the latest additions will begin on February 13, 2027.
The biggest change for travelers is Columbus to San Juan, a route Southwest said has never had nonstop service before. The airline also plans to start Buffalo to Miami International Airport, Rochester to Fort Lauderdale, Indianapolis to West Palm Beach, Manchester to Fort Myers, Portland, Maine, to Fort Myers, Providence to Sarasota and Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach on February 13, 2027. The Nashville to Liberia, Costa Rica, route will also begin that day and operate weekly on a 175-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 over 1,529 nautical miles, or 2,832 kilometers, each way.
Several of the markets on the list already have some service, but not always in the form Southwest is adding. Southwest said Indianapolis to West Palm Beach has no nonstop service now and no scheduled service by other carriers in the future. In Buffalo, American Airlines flies to Miami seasonally and plans to return in November. Rochester to Fort Lauderdale is currently served seasonally by Allegiant Air, which plans to resume flights in October. Southwest is also entering a number of markets that are currently only served by Breeze Airways, underscoring how many of these additions are aimed at thinner, less crowded routes rather than obvious trunk-line battlegrounds.
Some of the routes are not entirely new for Southwest. The airline briefly operated Rochester to Fort Lauderdale in 2020, served Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach from 2013 to 2018 and very briefly flew Providence to Sarasota in 2023. Southwest has also flown to Liberia since 2015, and the new Nashville service extends that existing footprint at a time when the U.S.-Liberia market has 1.9 million two-way seats available in 2026, up 5% from the prior record. The Department of Transportation said 53,000 indirect passengers flew between Columbus and San Juan last year, making Columbus San Juan's ninth-largest unserved domestic market, while 11,000 passengers traveled indirectly between Nashville and Liberia and that route was the fifth-largest unserved U.S.-Liberia market.
The additions also fit Southwest's broader shift in how it operates. The carrier's chief executive has said the airline is evolving to such a large degree that it is becoming a hybrid operator, and that up to 12 long-haul routes are likely to be served in the coming years. For now, the practical question is the schedule beyond Nashville and Liberia: Southwest has locked in the February 13, 2027, start date for the new and returning routes, but has not yet detailed the aircraft or timetable for the rest of the lineup.
