Southwest Airlines on Friday announced the airline would
cease operations at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles
International Airport on June 4. It will keep service to Chicago’s Midway airport,
where the bulk of its flights have serviced the Midwest city for decades. As
for DC, the carrier will continue service into its largest local hub Baltimore/Washington
International Airport and also into Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Southwest has served Dulles since 2006, but with limited
capacity. The airline’s O’Hare service began just five years ago in a post-Covid
gambit that expanded Southwest’s service in 18 cities. That effort in a number
of cities turned into a liability, and the airline pulled service from four of
its “expansion” airports in 2024. At the same time, it reduced its service at O’Hare.
The June exit from O’Hare could tee up a run for
Southwest’s three slots at one of the nation’s busiest airports. The competition
between American Airlines and United Airlines for service into Windy City has
been heated in recent months in
a feud that has included jockeying to win additional slots at its major
airport. United won five additional slots in October, a pick-up that American opposed
with a lawsuit that ultimately was dismissed. But American in December purchased
two slots from bankrupt Spirit Airlines. Both airlines have significantly expanded
service into and out of the O’Hare in the past year to maintain and grow their slot
allocations, given the airport’s use-it-or-lose-it policy.