Southwest to Fly Out of Long Beach, At Least Temporarily

Long Beach, CA — Southwest Airlines will be flying out of Long Beach Airport, at least temporarily, the city announced Wednesday.

The airline received the approval from the city to reallocate two to three flights, using unused flight slots allocated to JetBlue, the city said. Southwest will have to comply with the city's Airport Noise Compatibility Ordinance.

“We are delighted that Southwest is putting these unused slots to use at the Long Beach Airport,” said Robert Garcia said. “This will attract new customers and bring additional revenue to our airport.”

Under the Flight Allocation Resolution, flight slots allocated to, but not fully utilized by, a particular airline may be temporarily reallocated to another carrier, the city said. Southwest Airlines has reserved three unused flight slots for use Sunday through Friday, and two unused flight slots for use on Saturday, beginning Sept. 18 through Dec. 31, 2016.

Southwest Airlines started flying out of LGB on June 5, 2016, with four flights to Oakland.

Air carriers are required to submit a 180-day Look-Ahead-Schedule on a monthly basis, which forecasts the availability of temporary flight slots.

“Cargo carriers more commonly use the process outlined in the Flight Allocation Resolution to accommodate the busy holiday shipping season in November and December,” said Juan López-Rios, Interim Airport Director. “However, the commercial passenger carriers have also utilized unused flight slots to temporarily augment their service in the past.”

Continued use of the flight slots beyond the temporary allocation period is contingent on the information provided monthly by all air carriers. Temporary use of flight slots must also conform to all of the provisions in the Airport Noise Compatibility Ordinance, which currently allows for a total of 50 flight slots.

— Photo courtesy of Southwest Airlines