Southwest Airlines Ends 7 Routes From This Important Airport [List & Map]

There has been plenty of change at Southwest Airlines in recent years, as the blue-liveried budget giant adjusts both its network and onboard product. One particular base that will see network cuts in the third quarter (July to September) of 2026 is St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). Here, there are seven routes that Southwest operated last Q3 but won’t this time.

A key reason behind these alterations is reportedly that Southwest is looking to focus more of its capacity through Nashville International Airport (BNA). Its shift away from point-to-point flying is also playing a role. Five of the seven routes are on the shorter side, while the other pair serve destinations in California. Let’s take a closer look at the cuts and the data behind them.

Seven Route Cuts

Credit: Great Circle Map

According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Southwest will cut seven routes from STL in Q3 compared with the same period last year. As shown in the map above, five served relatively close destinations, with all of them having similar frequencies. Indeed, four of the five had 107 departures from STL in Q3 last year.

These destinations were Des Moines, Little Rock, Tulsa, and Wichita, with seat totals ranging from 15,845 to 17,829. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City, which has also been cut, saw 108 flights from STL last Q3. In California, Long Beach and San Jose have also been cut, although their frequencies were lower (34 and five). In a statement obtained by Men’s Journal viaYahoo News, Southwest said it is “fully committed to the Gateway City“ and looks forward to serving the market “for years to come.”

Still A Busy Q3 In St Louis For Southwest

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While the loss of these seven routes will come as something of a hammer blow to their passengers, they actually only represent a small fraction of Southwest Airlines’ overall presence in St Louis. Indeed, Cirium data shows that, with 9,945 scheduled departures this Q3, St Louis is the carrier’s 11th-busiest base. Collectively, these services will offer a grand total of 1,608,629 one-way seats.

International traffic plays a relatively small role in Southwest’s day-to-day operations in St. Louis, with just 126 flights to foreign airports scheduled for the third quarter of this year. Cancun is by far the most popular, accounting for 112 of these rotations, followed by Montego Bay and Punta Cana on five apiece. San Jose del Cabo rounds out the list, with four scheduled Q3 flights.

Domestic traffic, meanwhile, accounts for the remaining 9,819 of Southwest’s 9,945 Q3 departures from St. Louis (98.73%) this year. Denver is the most popular, with 610 rotations during this period, followed by Orlando on 545 and Dallas Love Field on 512. Rounding out the top five, Chicago Midway will see 458 Southwest flights from St. Louis this Q3, while Las Vegas has 433.

How Has Southwest’s Presence In St. Louis Evolved Over The Years?

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While St Louis has long been an important base for Southwest, the scale of its operation has fluctuated somewhat over the years. Cirium’s records go as far back as 2004, when Southwest scheduled 20,641 flights out of STL, and this total grew year-on-year until its then-peak of 26,392 in 2008. After a wobble in 2009 due to the recession, the numbers grew again, topping 30,000 in 2012.

After another brief drop in 2014, this growth peaked in 2019, when the figure exceeded 40,000 for the first time. Indeed, that year, Southwest scheduled a grand total of 40,450 flights and 6,109,086 seats out of St. Louis. The pandemic brought this to a halt, with the total dipping to 25,863 in 2021, before peaking at 41,582 in 2025. This year, however, the total will be somewhat lower, at 38,631.