en.Wedoany.com Reported - Southwest Airlines has canceled its planned route from Las Vegas (LAS) to San José, Costa Rica (SJO), marking a route the carrier abandoned before its inaugural flight.

According to the latest schedule submitted to Cirium Diio, this route had several unique features: it would have been the airline's longest international route by both distance and time; it would have been the first nonstop flight between the two airports; the Las Vegas to San José market is the third-largest unserved market in Latin America from LAS, behind only São Paulo and Buenos Aires; and it would have been Southwest's only overnight international operation.

Cirium data shows that Southwest originally planned to launch the route on November 1, after a previous delay from October 1. The one-way distance of the route is 2,297 nautical miles (4,254 kilometers), with a maximum block time approaching six and a half hours in the initial months. The flight was scheduled to depart Nevada at 11:55 PM, making it Southwest's only international overnight flight.

The route was originally planned to use the 137-seat Boeing 737-700 for the outbound leg and the 175-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 for the return. This imbalance in aircraft allocation is relatively rare for Southwest. The airline may have aimed to build demand and load factors with the smaller aircraft before considering an upgrade in size. The latest schedule shows all flights canceled, and it remains unclear whether this is a permanent adjustment or another postponement. Southwest has been contacted for comment.

Southwest began operating international flights on July 1, 2014, and launched its Costa Rica route in March of the following year, with the first route departing from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), followed by additions such as Houston Hobby Airport (HOU). According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, between March 2015 and April 2026, Southwest carried 2.7 million passengers to and from Costa Rica, including 1.6 million to San José (SJO) and 1.1 million to Liberia. The load factor for San José flights was 83.4%, slightly higher than Liberia's 80.1%.

Between August 2026 and March 2027, Southwest plans to fly to 14 airports outside the U.S., including Aruba, Belize City, Cancún, Grand Cayman, Havana, Liberia, Los Cabos, Montego Bay, Nassau, Providenciales, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, St. Maarten, and SJO. During this period, the airline will operate an average of 43 daily international departures, a 14% increase compared to the August 2025 to March 2026 period. Daily departures range from 20 to 102, surpassing 100 for the first time.