en.Wedoany.com Reported - Southwest Airlines plans to cut seven routes from St. Louis Lambert International Airport in the third quarter of 2026 (July to September). The primary reason for this adjustment is that Southwest is concentrating more capacity at Nashville International Airport, while its strategic shift away from point-to-point flights is also having an impact.
According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, five of the seven canceled routes are short-haul, including Des Moines, Little Rock, Tulsa, and Wichita, each of which had 107 flights in the third quarter of 2025, with total seat counts ranging from 15,845 to 17,829. The Oklahoma City route is also among those canceled, with 108 flights from St. Louis in the third quarter of 2025. Two routes to California—Long Beach and San Jose—are also being cut, though with lower frequencies (34 and 5 flights, respectively). In a statement, Southwest said it is "fully committed to the gateway city" and looks forward to continuing to serve the market "for many years to come."
Although seven routes are being canceled, they account for a small share of actual operations. Cirium data shows that in the third quarter of 2026, St. Louis is Southwest's 11th busiest base, with 9,945 scheduled flights offering 1,608,629 one-way seats. International routes account for only 126 flights, with Cancún being the most popular (112 flights), followed by Montego Bay and Punta Cana (5 each), and San José del Cabo last (4 flights). Domestic flights make up the remaining 9,819 flights (98.73%), with Denver being the most popular destination (610 flights), followed by Orlando (545), Dallas Love Field (512), Chicago Midway (458), and Las Vegas (433).
St. Louis has long been an important base for Southwest, but operational scale has fluctuated over the years. Cirium records show that in 2004, Southwest operated 20,641 flights from St. Louis, with numbers growing year by year, reaching 26,392 in 2008. In 2012, flight numbers exceeded 30,000, and in 2019, they surpassed 40,000 for the first time, with 40,450 scheduled flights offering 6,109,086 seats. The pandemic caused the total to drop to 25,863 in 2021, before peaking at 41,582 in 2025. The planned total for 2026 will be slightly lower, at 38,631 flights.
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