Hawaiian launched flights from Honolulu to Orlando and Austin using Airbus A330s, with flights to Florida starting March 13 while Austin followed on April 22. Smaller airlines have not shied away from considering new markets either.

To supplement these flights, the new Airbus A321LRs that were intended for flights to Hawaii became Gulf of Mexico-going aircraft for the airline as Hawaiian borders were closed to leisure traffic. For example, American had operated Boeing 777-200s from hubs in New York and Dallas to leisure destinations including Cancun, Miami and Orlando during the winter holiday window. These new markets come as the Colorado-based airline has announced wave after wave of new routes, with the latest including new 32 routes and new eight markets in a two-week window which includes reestablishing flights to cities like Anchorage and finding seasonal gaps in Floridian and Caribbean markets.Īdjusting to a more leisure-dominated market, widebodies that had previously taken flight to Europe on a daily basis were pushed onto domestic routes as airlines added capacity in peak travel seasons. Maarten in 2021, with Orlando and Miami being the links for both markets. Frontier, for example, will add its first flights to San Jose, Costa Rica and St. Airlines like Spirit and Frontier packed the leisure markets and pushed into new ventures. Low-cost carriers thrived in the leisure-backed market. and Fresno, Calif coming online in the summer of 2021. Southwest will continue its experimentation in small markets, with Jackson, Miss.

Since the pandemic changed the landscape, Southwest Airlines has pushed new routes and added service to a mix of cities, including Chicago, Houston, Montrose, and Steamboat Springs.įurthermore, Southwest put more faith in smaller markets, with previously stagnant markets like Wichita and Grand Rapids suddenly landing new routes from the Dallas-based carrier as aircraft that were once needed on business-heavy routes were being shifted into markets targeting states with lighter lockdown rules. Under the current environment, the global trend-breaker has resulted in long-time models of consistency and previous statements falling apart as airlines chased valuable passenger revenue throughout 2020. This has taken varying forms, such as small airports being given multiple competing airlines or a legacy carrier giving a non-hub route a chance to prove itself. With years’ worth of airline revenue and passenger statistics being null and void as the balance between business and leisure travelers has drastically changed in the current environment, airlines have taken note and pushed more leisure routes to win over the one segment of the American public still flying.Īs a result, what was once considered outside the realm of possibility has happened, and decisions that would have taken years to come to fruition have been brought forward.

Route map of southwest airlines