The Palm Springs International Airport is on a hot streak as we head into summer and look forward to increased airline service in the fall and winter.
Southwest Airlines continues its growth in Palm Springs with four new routes from Greater Palm Springs. Southwest has announced new daily year-round service to Sacramento, seasonal daily service to Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway, and Saturday seasonal service to Portland.
The new year-round Sacramento service will start on October 7 and will operate twice daily with one morning round-trip flight and one evening round-trip flight, which will provide Coachella Valley residents an easy day trip option to the state capital.
Their new daily service to Dallas Love Field will start on November 7; daily service to Chicago Midway will start on November 23, and the new Portland service will start on November 20, operating on Saturdays. Dallas, Chicago, and Portland will operate on a seasonal basis during the Greater Palm Springs’ primary tourist season.
“The addition of these four new direct flights to Palm Springs from Chicago, Dallas, Portland and Sacramento, our state’s capital, is fantastic news and a huge gamechanger for the Coachella Valley destination,” said Palm Springs Mayor Christy Holstege. “We know that residents in these regions love Palm Springs for our relaxed desert lifestyle, year-round sunshine, iconic mid-century modern architecture, and world-famous film and music festivals – and we are thrilled that Southwest Airlines has recognized our destination is experiencing a tremendous renaissance that continues to blossom. A big thank you to Southwest for continuing to invest in the Palm Springs destination.”
“We are excited to expand our partnership with Southwest Airlines and thank them for their continued commitment to add air service into Greater Palm Springs,” said Scott White, President/CEO of the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The added nonstop flights from Dallas, Portland and Chicago will allow us to welcome even more visitors from these key markets to our desert oasis, and the year-round daily service from Sacramento will reinforce the strong business tie between our two destinations.”
“Following on our initial successes in serving travelers in the Coachella Valley, we’re so pleased to add this time-saving nonstop service to the Pacific Northwest and the mid-continent just in time for the welcomed season of higher visitation to the Palm Springs area,” said Andrew Watterson, Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer. “We’re also pleased to connect Palm Springs and Sacramento in another expression of our two decades of commitment as California’s largest air carrier.”
Alaska Airlines to Add Round Trip Nonstop Service to Austin, Texas
Alaska Airlines’ new seasonal service to Austin will start on November 19 and will operate five days per week until April 18. The flights will be operated on a 76 seat Embraer 175 aircraft with 12 First Class seats, 12 Premium Class Seats, and 52 Coach seats. Flights from Austin to Palm Springs will depart at 9:00 a.m. arriving in Palm Springs at 10:35 a.m., and flights from Palm Springs to Austin will depart at 11:05 a.m. arriving in Austin at 4:10 p.m.
“Since March, our bookings for leisure travel have exceeded what they were before the pandemic,” said Brett Catlin, vice president of network and alliances at Alaska Airlines. “For many of our guests, there’s an increased confidence that comes after being vaccinated. They were cooped up for well over a year – now they’re ready to relax, enjoy and explore. With these new routes, we can whisk them away to destinations that have a warm sparkle in the wintertime.”
