DALLAS, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines announced today that the airline will continue the carrier's nearly 25 years of growth and commitment to St. Louis by adding nine new daily flights to six new destinations from Lambert International Airport. The new flights are expected to begin by May 2010 and will be open for sale this December at www.southwest.com. To view a blog post, visit: http://blogsouthwest.com/blog/news-flash-new-service-coming-next-may.

"Our Employees saw opportunity and worked vigorously to incorporate additional capacity in the St. Louis market," said Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO. "We are optimizing our network strategically and strengthening the relationship between Southwest Airlines and the communities we serve."

BEGINNING MAY 2010:

    --  Two new daily nonstop roundtrips between St. Louis and Nashville.
    --  One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Raleigh/Durham.
    --  One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and New Orleans.
    --  Two new daily nonstop roundtrips between St. Louis and Los Angeles.
    --  One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Seattle.
    --  One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and San Diego.

    --  One additional daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and
        Minneapolis/St. Paul (nonstop service between those cities launches with
        two daily roundtrips in January).

Southwest Airlines began service to St. Louis on March 17, 1985, with 17 daily nonstop departures to four destinations. The airline currently operates 72 daily nonstop flights from Lambert-St. Louis with additional or connecting service to 42 destinations. With previously announced nonstop service additions to Minneapolis/St Paul and Boston Logan (beginning January 10, 2010) and the future service above, Southwest becomes the dominant airline serving St. Louis, in terms of daily departures.

After 38 years of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the most productive airline in the sky and offers Customers a comfortable traveling experience. Southwest recently updated its gate areas and improved its boarding procedure to make flying Southwest convenient and simple. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned, currently serves 67 cities in 34 states (Southwest will add a 68th city, Milwaukee, Nov. 1, 2009). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

www.southwest.com

SOURCE Southwest Airlines