GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Southwest Airlines has announced it will discontinue flights in a few cities, including Grand Rapids and Flint.
Next year, the airline will drop its once-daily route to St. Louis from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport but will add three daily flights to and from Chicago's Midway International Airport.
As for Flint's Bishop International Airport, Southwest is discontinuing service to and from Las Vegas, Baltimore and Orlando. Three daily nonstop flights to and from Chicago Midway are being added.
The flights being discontinued will be available through April 11, 2016. Service will be switched to Chicago Midway International Airport on April 12.
Michelle Agnew, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, said this network design is focused on providing better and more reliable access to more of their network - connecting customers via Chicago Midway.
In the case of Flint and Grand Rapids, she said the changes will enable Southwest to have the best operational and financial performance in the cities.
"Existing cities on our network map have been successful with this model and so we are confident in this being a good path," said Agnew. "We're still refining the fully integrated network created by the merger and believe these moves will produce the most balanced network going forward."
Southwest is currently running a fare sale for customers flying to and from Chicago-Midway and Flint for $59 one-way, and those flying to and from Chicago-Midway and Grand Rapids for $49 one-way. These fares can be found at Southwest.com for purchase through Nov 2, 2015, for travel April 12, 2016 through May 25, 2016.
