Southwest Airlines begins service at Syracuse airport with Sunday morning arrival

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) on Sunday started service at Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) with a plane of passengers that arrived from Baltimore.

Based in Dallas, the world’s largest low-cost carrier began year-round and daily nonstop service from Syracuse to Baltimore and will launch additional nonstop service to Orlando, Florida this Saturday.

The Baltimore and Orlando routes increase to 27 the number of nonstop destinations available to Syracuse travelers. Southwest is offering three flights a day to Baltimore, while its Orlando route will operate once-weekly flown each Saturday.

Both the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) and Southwest Airlines held a welcoming event for the flight that arrived from Baltimore.

“This has been a long time coming. There’s been a lot of work that has gone into making today happen,” Jason Terreri, executive director of Syracuse Hancock International Airport, said in his remarks at the event.

He also recognized the staff of the SRAA and the personnel from Southwest Airlines who have been at Hancock preparing for the start of service.

Southwest air service to Baltimore provides new nonstop access to Baltimore/Washington and additional service to more than four dozen cities beyond with same-plane and connecting service, SRAA said. Additional time-saving nonstop service to and from Orlando will increase Hancock’s existing service to Central Florida.

“Syracuse has been both on our radar and our list for a while and we’re glad to bring Southwest to a sixth airport in the Empire State,” Adam Decaire, VP of network planning at Southwest, said in a news release. “Our Baltimore/Washington service puts Syracuse within reach of more than 50 cities in our network with the customer friendly policies and world-famous Hospitality of Southwest.”