Southwest Airlines has announced that it is now possible to book nonstop flights from Chicago (Midway) to Punta Cana. The flights are on AirTran Airways, the Southwest wholly owned subsidiary. The flights are scheduled to begin Sunday, 14 April, subject to governmental approvals that are highly likely. “These new international markets make sense for our Chicagoland Customers as we approach connecting the Southwest and AirTran route networks in the coming months,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines’ executive vice president and chief commercial officer and AirTran Airways president. The new flights open up new international options for AirTran and Southwest that already serve more than 60 destinations nonstop from Chicago.
Starting 14 April, the Punta Cana flights would operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. As of Sunday, 19 May the flights would operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Southwest is the largest US carrier in terms of originating passengers boarded and including wholly-owned subsidiary, AirTran Airways, operates the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world to serve 97 destinations in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and six near-international countries.
In February 2011, AirTran added an Atlanta to Punta Cana non-stop flight part of its growth strategy in the Caribbean with flights to Aruba, Cancun, Mexico, Montego Bay, Jamaica and Nassau, Bahamas. Atlanta is regarded as the world’s busiest airport. AirTran had been flying to Punta Cana since 2008 as part of chartered service.