[An earlier version of this article appeared on this website on July 13]
Southwest Airlines, which began operating from the Long Beach Airport in June, has been granted some of JetBlue Airway’s unused flight slots, according to a July 13 statement issued by the City of Long Beach.
A spokesperson for Southwest told the Business Journal that there are “no new service details” about potential new destinations at this time. Currently, Southwest flies four daily flights to Oakland from the airport.
Under the city’s Flight Allocation Resolution, flight slots that are allocated to but aren’t used by an airline – in this case, JetBlue – may be temporarily reassigned to another airline, according to the city.
“Southwest Airlines has reserved three unused flight slots for use Sunday through Friday and two unused flight slots for use on Saturday, beginning September 18 through December 31, 2016,” the city statement said.
“We are delighted that Southwest is putting these unused slots to use at the Long Beach Airport,” Mayor Robert Garcia stated. “This will attract new customers and bring additional revenue to our airport.”
According to the city, all air carrier operators at the airport must submit a 180-day outlook on a monthly basis, “which forecasts the availability of temporary flight slots.” Once Southwest’s temporary allocation period ends, continued use of those flight slots is contingent upon the information in the outlook reports.
Previously:
[July 13, 3:23 p.m.] Southwest Airlines has been granted some of JetBlue Airway’s unused flight slots, according to a statement issued this afternoon by the City of Long Beach. Southwest did not indicate if it would be adding a new destination from Long Beach Airport.
According to the city, “Under the Flight Allocation Resolution, flight slots allocated to, but not fully utilized by, a particular airline may be temporarily reallocated to another carrier. Southwest Airlines has reserved three unused flight slots for use Sunday through Friday, and two unused flight slots for use on Saturday, beginning September 18 through December 31, 2016.”
Southwest inaugurated service from Long Beach last month, offering daily service to Oakland.
For more information, see the July 19 Long Beach Business Journal.