Southwest to serve Logan by fall

Move could lower other carriers' fares

February 19, 2009|Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. said it plans to begin flying out of Logan International Airport by the fall, a long-awaited move that could drive down airfares for Boston passengers.

In an exclusive interview with the Globe, chief executive Gary Kelly said the airline is planning "a conservative launch" with between eight and 12 daily departures from Logan. He said Southwest probably will just fly to a couple of destinations initially, but the airline does not plan to unveil its new routes until the spring. Southwest's arrival in Boston, Kelly said, will result in 35 to 40 new jobs at the airport.

Southwest, which has been serving airports near Manchester, Providence, and Hartford since the late 1990s, has been eyeing Boston for years. But Kelly told the Globe last April that he didn't foresee the airline would start service in Boston in 2009 because fuel prices were skyrocketing and the costs of operating at Logan were too high. However, Kelly said at the time that if another airline significantly reduced its Boston flights, Southwest could seize the "perfect opportunity."

Since then, several carriers, hammered by high fuel prices, have trimmed their schedules, leaving Logan with 311,478 domestic flights in 2008, down 6 percent compared with 2007. And at about $55 a barrel, fuel is about one-third the cost of what it was last year. But Kelly said the biggest reason Southwest decided to launch service from the Hub was because it's shifting some of its 539 planes from unpopular routes to markets that it hopes will be more profitable.

Kelly said the 27 daily nonstop departures from Manchester and 31 daily nonstop departures from Providence will still represent the majority of flights out of the region. But launching service in Boston, which will become Southwest's 67th destination, is a smart move since the area is brimming with business travelers. Southwest, which said 40 to 45 percent of its passengers nationwide are business travelers, is hoping to snag more of them from the Boston area.

"We know that there are customers in the Boston area that we don't serve today, so this will be a very nice complement to our Providence and Manchester service," Kelly said.

Industry analysts say Southwest's move will also be good for travelers. Henry H. Harteveldt, principal airline analyst for Forrester Research Inc., said the arrival of Southwest is "a huge coup for Boston" and the city's travelers because wherever Southwest goes, lower airfares follow.