Southwest Airlines Announces Plans To Fly From Paine Field Everett This Fall

In a report to investors on their 4th quarter results today, Gary C. Kelly, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Southwest Airlines included this little note:

“As we look to realize ongoing benefits of modernizing our fleet and optimizing our route network, we are enthusiastic about our ability to leverage our strengths and scale to meet Customer demand. We are pleased with the progress made thus far to obtain authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration for Extended Operations (ETOPS) to operate between the mainland and the Hawaiian Islands later this year. In addition, as a complement to our more than forty flights a day to 15 cities nonstop from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, today we announce our commitment to launch up to five daily flights at a new commercial aircraft facility at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, scheduled to be completed later this year.”

No word yet on what cities Southwest will serve from Everett but it should bring the passenger terminal to nearly full capacity. Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers issued the following statement earlier this morning.

“We welcome Southwest Airlines to Snohomish County! Their focus on customer service mirrors our efforts in the county. Since Paine Field is the economic engine for our region, we will do all we can to make commercial service a success. We now have three airlines that will be serving our residents and helping to strengthen our economy. We look forward to a strong partnership with these airlines.”

Southwest joins United and Alaska in announcing service from Paine Field in Everett. All three must still get approval from the FAA before operations can begin.