Southwest expanding service in New Orleans

(AP) Southwest Airlines Co. will expand its service to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport by 30 percent on Nov. 7, the carrier announced last Wednesday.

Southwest, the largest carrier at the airport, said it would add eight daily nonstop roundtrip flights, including the restoration of service to Birmingham, Ala. Southwest, like other carriers serving New Orleans, has been slowly rebuilding service since Hurricane Katrina.

“We have a lot of confidence in the New Orleans market,” said Southwest spokeswoman Paula Berg, citing increased traffic and a jump in the number of corporate meetings coming to the city.

Three of the flights will be to Birmingham, while two will be added to Houston Hobby, one to Dallas Love Field, one to Las Vegas and one to Orlando. The flights will add about 1,000 daily seats to the airport, giving Southwest about 31 percent of the seats offered in New Orleans, the company said.

“The five cities Southwest has chosen are all in high demand and should be very successful,” said Sean Hunter, the airport’s director of aviation.

Hunter said the new flights would bring the airport back to 82 percent of its pre-Katrina number of flights and 75 percent of the seats that were available before the storm.

The flights will bring to 35 the number that Southwest offers from New Orleans. The carrier also offers service between New Orleans and Baltimore-Washington, Chicago Midway, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Fla., Nashville, Phoenix and Tampa. Before Katrina, the airline offered more than 50 daily flights from New Orleans.