Southwest Airlines cuts 15 destinations from Atlanta, adds 6 new routes to Nashville

Southwest suspends operations in 15 markets in Atlanta

Starting with the cuts, Southwest will exit 15 markets from its base at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). A carrier spokesperson confirmed that the airline will permanently exit the following markets starting in April 2025:

• Cleveland
• Fort Lauderdale
• Fort Myers, Florida
• Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Memphis
• Miami
• Milwaukee
• Oklahoma City
• Omaha
• Philadelphia
• Richmond, Virginia
• Sarasota, Florida

Southwest told TPG that the airline has also filed plans to temporarily suspend service from Atlanta to Cancun, Mexico, but that route will reopen in the near future.

Southwest says these routes were cut because of declining bookings on many of these routes.

“We continue to optimize our network to meet customer demand, best utilize our fleet and maximize revenue opportunities. These types of decisions are difficult for our Company because of the impact they have on our people, but we have a 53-year track record of ensuring they are taken care of,” the airline said in a statement.

With the cuts, the airline will reduce its presence at ATL from 18 to 11 gates next year. As such, the airline won’t need as many employees at its Atlanta station, but all employees will be offered station transfers, the carrier confirmed to TPG.

Southwest will now focus on capturing demand for departures and arrivals from Atlanta to other popular Southwest airports such as Baltimore, Dallas, Denver and Houston.

All of these changes come as the airline struggles to return to profitability under repeated pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

Southwest is expected to announce a detailed plan to cut costs at its investor day event on Thursday.

Southwest adds 6 new routes to Nashville

But it’s not all downtime for Southwest. The airline is expanding its presence in Nashville by adding six new routes.

Starting April 8, 2025, Southwest will begin flying from BNA to:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Albany, New York
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Memphis
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Tulsa, Oklahoma

Interestingly, the expansion marks Southwest’s first time serving Tennessee. It’s also the first time a major carrier has served Memphis from Nashville since Delta Air Lines exited the market in 2014, according to Cirium data. (The cut coincided with Delta’s 2008 hub divestment of Memphis, a base it acquired as part of the Northwest Airlines merger.)

It will be interesting to see how this 200-mile service will work out for Southwest. After all, the two cities are only 3 1/2 hours apart.

More night flights

In addition to the new routes, Southwest announced that it will begin red-eye flights on five Hawaii routes starting in April. Adding red-eye service from Hawaii has been a long-awaited move for Southwest.