Displaying items by tag: Southwest Airlines

The Akron-Canton Airport is reporting a 9% drop in passengers from 2016 to 2017. 

According to the data, 1.27 million passengers flew in and/or out of CAK in 2017, compared to 1.4 million the year before. That is the lowest number of air travelers at the airport in more than a decade. In an interview with WAKR News, CAK President and CEO Rick McQueen primarily cited Southwest Airlines exit from the airport in 2017 as the reason for the sharp drop. The airline gradually reduced their services at CAK throughout 2017. 

McQueen, who announced earlier this year that he would be retiring at the end of 2018, says they have had some victories during and then after the departure of Southwest, but it was a major hit, and it will take some time to recover completely. 

In 2014, Southwest Airlines came on through Akron-Canton Airport with great fanfare, but it’s stay was a little more than a layover. Come June, Southwest will no longer be taking off at the airport.

Rick McQueen, president and CEO of the Akron-Canton Airport, joined the Ray Horner Morning Show to speak of the loss of the airline. McQueen said Southwest had already been cutting back its services in 2016, and was both shocked but not surprised by the announcement.

As Southwest slowly cut down on their services at the airport, CAK will see a sizable bump with Spirit Airlines, another low-cost airline with flights headed to warm-weather destinations in Florida and South Carolina.

Southwest Airlines is going to be pulling back flights at Akron-Canton Airport.

The airline's cuts in mid-April include not only all Florida flights, but a new flight to Las Vegas that will start next month, and end just a few months later.

CAK senior VP Kristi Van Auken says they're disappointed with the cuts, but Southwest is not leaving Akron-Canton Airport entirely.

"They're going to be down to three trips a day to Atlanta," Van Auken tells WAKR.net, "but that does access more than 100 destinations in the Southwest network."

Van Auken says Southwest is looking closely at former AirTran cities.

But she says the other airlines at Akron-Canton are growing, and those flying to Florida have Allegiant Air as an option.

The Southwest flights being cancelled will still fly from CAK through April 12th.