Monday, November 8, 2010

Southwest Airlines = Charleston Buzz

Starting March 13, 2011, Charleston will have 7 direct daily flights coming from 4 key feeder destinations (3 daily flights from Baltimore,MD (Washington D.C. area) 2 daily flights from Chicago,IL; 1 daily flight from Houston, TX & 1 daily flight from Nashville, TN). Those are direct flights, so if you think about connections via those cities it really opens it up to 60+ new destinations flying into to Charleston. Given that Charleston, SC was recently named the # 2 Top American Destination for the 18th consecutive year, by Conde Nast Traveler - it is truly exciting to have much better and lower-cost airline access to this Historic city on the way. In addition, the other competing airlines to Charleston's hub will need to now lower their rates. This is wonderful, as Charleston has had historically high rates - even causing some visitors to fly in and out of nearby cities in order to visit Charleston. Other discount airlines have come to Charleston over the last decades, but, have not stayed. Southwest is by far the largest discounter to come to Charleston, SC. Southwest has never pulled out of a destination since they started business in 1971, so are confident they are truly going to be serving the Lowcountry for a long time and will be here to say. More exciting news is that Southwest is planning to acquire AirTran which should open up Atlanta direct flights in a year or so - among other destinations. The best news is that Southwest has no bag fees! Things are looking great for Charleston, South Carolina - the accolades for this historic city keep coming and airline access is about to get much better and less expensive.