Southwest said that three new daily flights to Chicago will start on Tuesday. The flights will depart Dayton at 6:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 4:25 p.m. The airline previously had between four and five flights from the airport daily.
The airline said customer demand is driving the changes. From Midway, passengers will be able to connect to 243 daily direct flights to 62 U.S. cities and 11 daily direct flights to eight international destinations.
Southwest’s Dayton-to-Midway service will be provided on Boeing 737-700 aircraft with 143 seats.
David Harvey, Managing Director of Business Development for Southwest, said the changes will give travelers from Dayton full access to the airline’s network. The changes follow Southwest’s acquisition of Airtran in 2014.
“We did a fine-tuning of the network,” Harvey said. “A big focus of Southwest is getting back to the basics of customer service and hospitality and operational performance.”
Similar changes are in store for airports serving Akron-Canton, Flint, Mich., Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., and Richmond, Virginia, he said.
Dayton International Airport said Friday that it will mark the new flights with a departure gate celebration for the 12:15 p.m. Tuesday flight.
It will include balloons, giveaways, and refreshments for passengers, as well as a water cannon salute as the aircraft taxis to the runway for take-off.
“This presents a great opportunity for Dayton travelers to find and customize travel itineraries that work for their businesses and families,” Dayton International Airport Director Terry Slaybaugh said. “After a quick, low-cost flight to Chicago Midway Airport, travelers will find themselves closer to more flights to the destinations they need to go.”
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