Midland loses Austin flight

Daily flights between Midland International Airport and Austin will fly into the past May 9.

The airline announced Tuesday what many in the community were expecting - that the only nonstop daily flight would be ending its service.

The cut was part of Southwest's "optimization" plan, company spokeswoman Olga Romero said.

"We're taking out the flights that aren't giving us the revenue we need and taking the planes (elsewhere) to meet demand," she said.

The announcement comes less than a year after Southwest announced it was cutting its other daily flight to Austin. The airline also eliminated its flight to El Paso in November 2007.

The airline reviews its schedule each quarter to determine which flights to eliminate and which to add, Romero said. The market will determine whether flights into Midland are added or taken away in the future.

"It depends on how our customers react to the flight changes," she said.

According to Southwest's website, passengers will still be able to take five connecting flights to Austin through Dallas after the nonstop is cut. But those can take between two-and-a-half and four hours, compared to an hour for the direct flight.

Airport director Marv Esterly said the Austin flight has a load factor around 40 percent.

"This is one of those things we knew was coming," he said. "We knew Southwest wasn't making money on that flight."

Though he had hopes of adding a flight to a western destination, Esterly said airline growth should be slow during the next couple of quarters. Still, he doesn't expect to see any more flights eliminated.

"I do feel really good after talking to Southwest," he said.

Esterly said he's not overly concerned with American Eagle's recent cut from six to five daily flights between Midland and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport because the flights are now on 72-passenger turbo-prop planes instead of 50-seat regional jets. That means the number of passengers who can fly should remain about the same.

But he was troubled to see the airport's passenger total drop 14 percent from November 2007 to last month. While the elimination of the El Paso flight and the first Austin cut dropped the capacity of flights from Midland by 6 percent, the decrease in passengers was more than Esterly wanted to see.

"Hopefully, people will get out and fly to see their family during the holidays," he said.

Southwest changes in cities that serve Midland

Added

>> Albuquerque, N.M.: One daily flight to Baltimore (now two daily), One daily flight to Oakland, Calif. (now three), One daily flight to Seattle (now two).

Subtracted

>> Albuquerque, N.M.: One daily flight to Dallas Love (now eight).

>> Dallas Love Field: One daily flight to Albuquerque (now eight), one daily flight to Amarillo (now seven).

>> Las Vegas: One daily flight to San Jose, Calif. (now eight).