Southwest to halt Boston-Philly flights this month

January 31, 2012|Paul Makishima, Globe Assistant Sunday Editor, Globe Staff

Southwest will no longer offer any nonstop service from New England to Philadephia when it ends its five daily nonstops from Boston on Feb. 11.

The carrier announced in July that it would halt its four nonstops to Philadelphia from both T.F. Green in Warwick, R.I., and Boston Manchester Airport in New Hampshire in January. A month later, Southwest noted on its flight schedules that it also would halt its Boston service in February.

Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Dillon said that the carrier made the decision because it decided that business was not robust enough to merit keeping the flights.

Southwest is in the process of reviewing its operations after acquiring AirTran last year. But Dillon said that this latest move had nothing to do with that but was part of a continuing review process that the carrier has embraced. In the past couple of years in reaction to higher fuel prices and the soft economy, Dillon said, the airline has taken to keeping tighter reins on flight schedules. In past years it revised service quarterly but now it makes changes as often as every month or two, adding and subtracting flights according to projected demand.

Southwest, which began service out of Logan in 2009, added the flights to Philadelphia in 2010. Going forward, it will offer nonstop service to six destinations -- Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Denver, and Phoenix -- with connecting flights to a number of other cities.