Southwest Airlines in Fresno is a big deal. Here’s why – and what we know and don’t know
Southwest Airlines, the low-cost airline that’s been a long-coveted prize for Fresno air travelers, “intends to” come to Fresno Yosemite International Airport sometime next spring.
But the airline’s announcement Wednesday, while welcomed by city and airport leaders, leaves many key questions unanswered. Details such as when flights will start, what destinations will be served, and others, are “just a bit early for answers,” a Southwest spokesman said in an email to The Bee.
Still, the news is important for not only Fresno, but the Valley in general. Whereas local airline customers in Fresno, Merced, Visalia and other cities in the central San Joaquin Valley had to look elsewhere if they wanted to fly Southwest, Wednesday’s news signifies a convenient alternative.
“Fresno has long been on our radar, if not on our map,” said Brad Hawkins, a media representative for the airline. “Fresno is the largest air market in the state we did not previously serve and we add it (and Santa Barbara) as an answer to the long-made request of our existing Customers, those who have said they would fly us, and our employees.”
Schedule and service plans are expected to be revealed within weeks, Hawkins added.
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand described Southwest’s announcement as “truly an early Christmas present for the city.”
“This is tremendous news for the city of Fresno,” Brand said in a video press conference Wednesday. “Airlines are a major catalyst for economic development.” He added that airline service is one of the key factors that companies look at when considering locations to enter or expand.
Southwest, Brand said, “is trying to set themselves up for what they see as the future” and a post-COVID-19 economy. “They’re the biggest domestic airline in the U.S.,” he said.
“I see them changing the model, maybe shorter trips” to destinations such as Las Vegas, San Diego or Orange County.
Brand and Kevin Meikle, director of aviation for the city of Fresno, said they expect Southwest to release details about flight schedules and frequency in January – a time when Meikle said airlines typically load their schedules into their computerized reservation systems for the peak summer travel season.
Meikle added that he anticipates a robust schedule from the airline. “Southwest, when they come in (to a market), it is with multiple flights every single day to multiple destinations,” he said. “We expect that to be the case here.”
The new service is likely to attract more passengers from surrounding counties. “Our airport’s catchment area is actually very large; that was one of the selling points for Southwest,’ Meikle said.
Passengers drive to Fresno from as far as Bakersfield in the south, Modesto in the north, and the central California coast to catch flights, he said. “The impact is going to be significant up and down the Valley,” Meikle said.
What’s different now?
Meikle said the city-owned airport has been working for years on coaxing Southwest into the Fresno market. “We’ve always been on their radar; it’s just been a matter of timing from (Southwest’s) strategic initiatives standpoint,” he said.
But Meikle said the airline reached out to him in November with more specific questions about whether the airport has the physical capacity – including gate capacity, space at the ticket counters and office space, and sufficient parking – to meet its needs.
After meetings between the airport, the airline and community business leaders, “they contacted me yesterday and said, ‘We’re coming.’”
Southwest’s arrival in the second quarter of 2021 coincides with the planned expansion of the airport terminal itself. Fresno Yosemite International broke ground earlier this year on a four-level parking garage.
Meikle said construction on the terminal expansion is expected to commence in the summer or fall of 2021. That project includes:
1. The addition of a new upper-level concourse with two new gates and jet bridges that can be used for both domestic and international flights.
2. Enlarging the segregated arrival and Customs area for international passengers.
3. Expanding the luggage-handling and sorting area for outbound flights.
4. Increasing the number of Transportation Security Administration security checkpoint lanes.
When the expansion plan was announced in early 2019, airport officials said that luring a new airline – whether Southwest or anyone else – was not the goal.
“This is needed to accommodate the growth we’re already experiencing.” Meikle told The Bee in February 2019. “Whether that’s from our incumbent airlines that are adding flights and more destinations, or new airlines like Southwest or JetBlue or Sun Country, we need to accommodate the growth wherever it comes from.”
Meikle said Wednesday that some minor work will need to be done to provide sufficient counter and office space for Southwest before it launches operations next spring.
Meikle and airline industry experts previously consulted by The Bee in recent years have consistently said that airlines weigh a variety of factors when they consider moving into a new market or expanding service, including the availability of aircraft and crews and, of course, the potential passenger volume and the profitability of the new route.
Often, experts said, the addition of a new market or expansion of service means the reduction of service for another city.
Hawkins said that’s not the case for Southwest’s move into Fresno. “Adding Fresno has no downside for any other existing (or future) Southwest city,” he said. “This is all net positive, incremental growth for the airline in its current size.”
Besides potentially making Fresno a more attractive market for companies, “it’s a significant (economic) impact when you have this kind of airline enter your market,” Meikle said.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Meikle said, studies indicated that the airport generated about $928 million in annual economic activity in the Fresno market, including stimulating as many as 10,000 jobs through either direct or indirect activity or induced through economic ripples in the community.
“Generally speaking, for every passenger that gets on an aircraft, that can impact up to $700 in economic activity for the community and the surrounding region,” Meikle said Wednesday. “And that can also contribute to 70 jobs” (per passenger).
Airlines also pay landing fees and per-passenger security fees to the airport, so Southwest’s arrival will create additional revenue for Fresno Yosemite International. How much, however, will ultimately depend on how many flights the airline flies and how many passengers it will carry.
More competitive fares?
City leaders aren’t the only ones excited about Southwest’s intentions.
“It’s definitely going to be a huge addition for Fresno,” said Craig Mungary, owner of Fresno travel agency Elite Global Journeys.
Because Southwest is an economy carrier, “I think the biggest thing they will bring to Fresno is a competitive market. … All too often here in Fresno, we find our travelers can save so much money by driving to San Jose, Los Angeles or San Francisco to fly, especially with families where four or five people are traveling.”
Mungary added that as new airlines enter a market or add a route, “we’ve seen the market get more competitive because everyone is having to realize some normal pricing.”
“It’s common in markets where Southwest is active, for instance in Sacramento, they force all of the other airlines in that market to be competitive and stop with the price gouging,” he added.
Meikle, the airport director, has chafed in the past over the characterization of Fresno as an expensive market for airline passengers. But he acknowledged on Wednesday that Southwest is likely to drive prices lower for the other airlines at Fresno Yosemite International.
“Fares are 100% market driven, and competition driven,” Meikle said. “I think what you’re going to find is when Southwest shows up … it’s going to help drive some competition with our other carriers.”
“The best thing we can do is foster competition, and that’s exactly what this will do,” he added.
Ongoing expansion of options
Southwest’s entry into the Fresno market will represent the latest in an ongoing string of developments to improve flight options for passengers to and from Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
In recent years – before the wide disruptions to the travel industry by the global coronavirus pandemic – airlines in Fresno converted all of their flights from smaller turboprop airplanes to faster jet aircraft. There’s also been a trend toward airlines using larger jets that can carry more passengers.
In the fall of 2019, United Airlines announced that what had been seasonal service between Fresno and Chicago would become year-round, with the airline using its own mainline fleet rather than contracting with regional carrier SkyWest as it does for most of its flights to and from Fresno. The airline also increased the number of daily flights to Denver from three to four, and switched one of its daily Denver flights to a larger Airbus jet to expand capacity over the winter months.
Even amid the pandemic this year, some airlines have increased their routes. Over the summer, Alaska Airlines announced two daily flights between Fresno and Los Angeles, increasing the available choices beyond those offered by American Airlines and United Airlines.
Before the pandemic, Alaska Airlines planned to add a fourth daily flight from Fresno to Seattle, and convert one of its flights from one flown by regional partners to one of its larger mainline Airbus A320 jets. Currently, however, Alaska’s reservation system only offers two daily Seattle flights, both on regional carriers.
This fall, Volaris, one of two airlines offering international flights to Mexico, launched new twice-a-week nonstop flights to Mexico City, adding the Mexican capital to its slate of other flights to Guadalajara, Morelia and Leon.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 2:50 PM.
