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As of March 2017, Southwest Airlines has scheduled flights to 101 destinations in 41 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, the newest being Santa Clara, Cuba on December 15, 2016. The airline has 15 focus cities and operates over 3,800 flights each day.
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Destinations
Southwest does not use the "hub and spoke" system of other major airlines, preferring the "point-to-point" system. It has large operations in certain airports. An average of 80 percent of Southwest passengers are local passengers— only 20 percent of all passengers are connecting passengers. This is higher than most airlines, where many passengers connect in hub cities. However, at Southwest's focus cities, the percentage of connecting passengers can reach 30 percent. Recent numbers indicate that the number of connecting passengers is steadily rising.
As part of its effort to control costs, Southwest sometimes uses secondary airports in cities with high costs. Secondary airports have lower costs and may be more convenient to travelers than major airports. Some examples include:
AirTran cities acquired by Southwest
Through Southwest's acquisition of AirTran Airways, Southwest opened a focus city in Atlanta and acquired additional slots at Washington–National and New York–LaGuardia. In addition, Southwest added service to the following destinations.
International service
Southwest began planning international service when it acquired AirTran, which already served international destinations. Southwest's first approach to international service came on April 19, 2012 when it signed a contract with the Amadeus IT Group to launch an international reservation system. This agreement gave the airline the capability to begin flying to destinations outside of the United States.
Southwest debuted the international reservation system on January 27, 2014 when its first international flights went on sale. This was followed by the first international flights which began on July 1, 2014 to Aruba (AUA), Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) and Nassau, Bahamas (NAS).
Southwest built a 5 gate international terminal at William P. Hobby Airport that opened in 2015. Southwest is also in the process of building a 5 gate international terminal in Fort Lauderdale scheduled for completion in 2017.
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As of February 2017, this is a list of destinations that Southwest Airlines serves.