Southwest Airlines returning to Mississippi airport in 2021
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Southwest Airlines will start offering flights to and from Mississippi's capital city in 2021, about seven years after the low-cost carrier stopped the service.
Southwest board chairman and CEO Gary C. Kelly said in a third-quarter financial statement Thursday that in the the first half of 2021, the airline intends to return to Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport and to add service at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia.
“We are leveraging additional airports in cornerstone cities where our customer base is large, along with adding easier access to popular leisure-oriented destinations from across our domestic-focused network,” Kelly said.
Southwest offered flights to and from the Jackson airport for 17 years, but it stopped in June 2014. That departure was among reasons the state tried to take control over the airport board from the city, sparking a lawsuit that is still in court.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba praised the Jackson airport board and CEO for working to bring back the carrier.
“It’s great news for our city and great news for travelers throughout the region who have been missing access to Southwest’s accessible flights and low fares,” Lumumba said in a news release.
The city of Jackson sued in 2016 to block a law signed by then-Gov. Phil Bryant, which would have removed Jackson’s role in appointing the five-member board overseeing the airport.
The law would have created a new nine-person board, four of whom would be appointed by the governor or his appointees. Jackson’s mayor and city council would get one appointment each; suburban Madison and Rankin counties would get one each; and the lieutenant governor would get an appointee.
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