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Southwest adds new Houston flights: Are you excited about the chance to go to .. .
Southwest Airlines is adding three new routes from Hobby Airport: Seattle, Kansas City and Raleigh-Durham. Daily service will begin June 3, 2012.
Southwest greatly expanded its reach in May with the acquisition of Orlando-based AirTran Airways, one of its strongest competitors in the low-cost market. Starting this February, the merger gives Southwest full access to Atlanta — a first in the company's four-decade history — including daily nonstop flights to and from Houston Hobby.
While the two companies continue to integrate operations, AirTran announced flights to Mexico City and Cancun from San Antonio as well as daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Although it still awaits official government approval, the new service to Mexico would mark Southwest's first direct flights outside the United States. Service to both San Juan and Mexico is slated to begin in May 2012.
With the addition of its Atlanta flights in February, Southwest Airlines will serve more than 70 U.S. cities in 38 states with 3,400 daily flights. The Dallas-based company is the nation's largest airline based on the number of domestic passengers carried.