Southwest adding second Long Beach route, temporarily

Southwest Airlines is adding a second route from Long Beach, launching flights to Las Vegas this fall.

The announcement comes just about a month since Southwest debuted at the California airport on June 5. The carrier currently offers four daily round-trip flights to Oakland.

The new route to Las Vegas will begin Sept. 18 and will run through Dec. 31. Southwest will fly three round-trip flights each day except Saturday, when it will offer two. Tickets for the flights go up for sale on Wednesday (July 20).

Flights are capped at the Long Beach Airport, but Southwest was able to add the Las Vegas flights after the city made available JetBlue “slots” that were not currently being used.

Those slots were awarded to Southwest on to a temporary basis. JetBlue – the busiest airline at Long Beach – is not currently using all the slots under its control.

The city opted to give temporary use of some of those unused slots to Southwest, which will use them to compete head-to-head with JetBlue on the Long Beach-Las Vegas route.

“We’re delighted Southwest is putting unused slots to use,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia says in a statement issued by Southwest. “New customers bring additional revenue for the airport, and new service brings additional options for local residents and travelers.”

Southwest says its new – albeit temporary – route from Long Beach will strengthen its position in the region.

“As with our existing nonstop service to Oakland, the Vegas market appeals to people traveling locally between the two airports for fun or work, while also offering our customers in dozens of U.S. cities a shorter trip to Long Beach through same-plane or connecting service,” says Dave Harvey, Southwest’s Managing Director of Business Development.

Already, Southwest says Long Beach customers can connect to 19 other Southwest destinations via Oakland. Las Vegas, which is one of Southwest's top bases, will expand the the airline's connecting options from Long Beach for as long as the route operates.

The Long Beach airport – located 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles – is one several commercial airports serving the greater Los Angeles metro area. In June, the airport become Southwest's 98th destination and its 10th in California.