Southwest Airlines adds service in St. Louis, Fla.

Southwest Airlines adding new service in St. Louis, Florida

• On 3:15 pm EDT, Wednesday October 21, 2009

DALLAS (AP) -- Southwest Airlines Co. said Wednesday it is adding nine new daily flights from St. Louis following American Airlines' announcement that it is further cutting its service there.

Southwest said its new flights are expected to begin by May 2010 and will be open for sale in December.

The new flights include two daily nonstop roundtrips between St. Louis and Nashville, Tenn., one daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., and one daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and New Orleans.

The airline currently operates 72 daily nonstop flights from St. Louis.

Separately, Southwest said it plans to begin jet service from Northwest Florida's new international airport near Panama City, also in May 2010.

The service is being added through a partnership with The St. Joe Co., one of Florida's largest landowners and real estate developers.

Southwest has not released specific service details, saying only that it will add at least two daily nonstop flights from Northwest Florida to four destinations across its 68 airport network for a total of eight daily nonstop flights when it begins service next year.

The new airport is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in May.

St. Joe has agreed to reimburse Southwest if it incurs losses at the new airport during the first three years of service. Any profit from the air service during the term of the agreement will be shared with St. Joe up to the amount of St. Joe's prior payments.

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