Southwest Airlines adds nine new routes starting in 2027
Eight domestic routes and a new Nashville to Costa Rica flight launch February 13
Southwest Airlines is expanding its network into early 2027 with nine new routes, eight domestic and one international. All nine are set to begin on February 13, 2027, with most focused on leisure destinations popular among travelers seeking warm weather.
The eight new domestic routes
The eight domestic additions connect several smaller markets with sunny destinations across the South and East Coast. Here are the new routes launching February 13:
- Buffalo to Miami
- Columbus to San Juan
- Indianapolis to West Palm Beach
- Manchester, New Hampshire to Fort Myers
- Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach
- Portland, Maine to Fort Myers
- Providence to Sarasota
- Rochester to Fort Lauderdale
Most of these routes will run on Saturdays only, with once-weekly service. Three of them, Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach, Providence to Sarasota and Rochester to Fort Lauderdale, are routes Southwest has served before. Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach last ran in 2018, Fort Lauderdale to Rochester in 2020 and Providence to Sarasota in 2023.
Four of the eight routes currently have service from Breeze Airways, signaling that Southwest sees room to compete for leisure travelers on those corridors.
Nashville gets its first Costa Rica route
The international addition connects Nashville to Liberia, Costa Rica, serving as a gateway to the country’s Pacific coast. Nashville has grown into a more prominent hub within Southwest’s network over recent years, and the Liberia route will serve both local travelers and connecting passengers coming through from smaller markets in the Southwest system.
A carrier in the middle of a bigger shift
The 2027 announcements come on top of ongoing June 2026 route additions. Southwest added seven new routes on Thursday and planned 13 more for Friday, continuing a busy expansion period that began with route teases back in October 2025.
Beyond routes, Southwest has spent the past year implementing broader policy changes, including dropping its long-standing bags-fly-free policy and open seating model. Not all of those moves landed well with travelers, though the airline’s overall standing has held up. Southwest ranked third among domestic carriers in The Points Guy’s 2026 Best US Airlines report, behind Delta and United. It also took the top spot among economy and basic economy passengers for the fifth straight year in J.D. Power’s 2026 North America Airline Satisfaction Study.
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