Fresno’s first Southwest Airlines arrival, departure celebrated. Here’s the latest
About 120 passengers took the inaugural flight by Southwest Airlines to Las Vegas from Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Sunday morning.
The airline, which has been long courted by Fresno leaders, had only about 20 vacant seats on its Boeing 737-700 jet to Las Vegas — as well as on its second departure of the day to Denver.
Passengers waiting for the flight said they’ve been eager for Southwest to begin service in Fresno — and eager to resume travel after more than a year of restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Passenger Tony McMillan of Fresno said he and friends booked tickets to Las Vegas for a quick overnight trip just to be on the first Southwest flight from Fresno. “I’m super excited,” he said. “As soon as we found out about it, we wanted to be on this flight.”
McMillan, who said he frequently travels for business, said he welcomes the additional options that the airline represents for Fresno and the Valley. “I’ve been driving to San Jose or Oakland just to fly Southwest to someplace else,” McMillan said.
Officials with the airline set up tables in the boarding area with gifts for passengers on the inaugural flight, including Southwest luggage tags and cookies.
For the first flight, Southwest dispatched its “California One” jet — a 737 with a paint job depicting the state’s bear flag.
The airline has 12 employees working in its Fresno station.
As California’s fifth-largest city, Fresno is the largest market in the state that up to now has not been served by Southwest.
The airline already flies to and from 12 other airports in California.
Fresno becomes the latest market in a surge of Southwest’s expansion of its route network since the start of 2021, even in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fresno is the 11th airport at which the airline has opened new service this year, with six more to follow later in the spring and summer.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 10:44 AM.
