Southwest Airlines To Fly from Logan

Students who once had to travel out of state to catch a Southwest Airlines flight are in luck—the airline announced last Thursday that it would begin flying out of Boston Logan International Airport this fall.

Currently, students who fly Southwest must travel to either Manchester, N.H. or Providence, R.I. for service.

“I’m really happy to go from Logan directly rather than going up to Manchester,” said Samuel B. Novey ’11. “It will be a lot easier to go home.”

Veronica J. Shi ’11 said she prefers Southwest because “they usually have cheaper nonstop flights compared to other airlines.”

“I would be able to have the convenience and proximity of Logan Airport, as well as the economical prices of Southwest,” she said.

Last year, a free shuttle between Logan and Manchester-Boston Regional airport was discontinued in favor of one that charged $19 each way, increasing overall transportation costs.

“Now that there is no longer a free shuttle, it’s a lot more of a hassle to get to Manchester,” Shi said.

Southwest Airlines Spokesman Brad Hawkins said that airfares will remain comparable when service begins at Logan in the fall.

He said that Southwest is able to begin the two-gate operation in Boston because of an effort to optimize use of available airplanes.

“We now have the capacity to fly out of Boston,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins said the company is not worried about competition from other low-fare carriers like JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways.

“We offer very different products and even different destinations,” Hawkins said.

Southwest has not yet announced specific service details, saying only that it will offer a “conservative number of flights” in a press release announcing the change.

The Dallas-based company has been serving both Manchester-Boston and TF Green Airport in Providence for over a decade. It currently operates in 64 cities across 32 states with 3,200 flights a day.