Southwest launching daily flights to St. Maarten in 2026 from this Florida airport

Date:2025-08-28 23:44:57 Category:US Views:1 Comment:0

Another day, more new airline routes announced for Florida airports. This time it's Southwest, which is adding the island of St. Maarten to its destinations with daily flights to and from Orlando starting in April 2026, according to an Aug. 26 release.

This is Southwest’s first new international destination since 2021, the company said.

The airline will also be adding a new seasonal route between Panama City and Chicago, also in April.

The announcement comes days after the company added restrictions to its traditional "customers of size" extra seat refund policy, set to go into effect in January when Southwest moves to assigned seating.

Southwest making changes to seating, fares

Like other U.S. airlines, Southwest has been working to overcome the challenges from the pandemic and the drops in international vacation travel due to uncertainty over the United States' immigration policies and anger over President Donald Trump's threats to annex Canada and Greenland and his on-again, off-again tariffs. Florida has seen a decline in Canadian visitors in 2025, although current tourism levels are mostly flat compared to last year.

The company announced layoffs of 15% of its corporate jobs in February.

In May, the company added a new Basic fare and started charging baggage fees beginning at $35 for the first suitcase, a major shift from the longstanding practice of allowing two free checked bags.

Starting in January, the airline is moving to assigned seating and will launch a new group-based boarding process based on seat location, starting with Extra Legroom seats and allowing Rapid Rewards elites and premium ticketholders to board earlier.

The airline also recently made its fares available on Expedia, adjusted its loyalty program, launched red-eye flights, partnered with Icelandair, and announced a new package vacation booking platform, Getaways by Southwest.

The discount carrier also has had to deal with recent problems in the news: one of its flights narrowly missed hitting a business jet in Chicago, a Southwest pilot was arrested for DUI in Georgia, the company was sued (along with Frontier) over flight delays, and a Southwest jet almost took off from a taxiway in Orlando in March.

More new Southwest Florida routes

Southwest is adding or increasing several new routes to, from, and within Florida in 2025, according to the airline and other media sources. They include:

Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Miami International Airport (MIA)
- Twice daily, starting August 2025
Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI)
- Twice daily, starting August 2025
Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)
- Twice daily, starting August 2025
Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) near Fort Myers
- Twice daily, starting August 2025
Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) and San Diego International Airport (SAN)
- Sunday-Friday, starting Oct. 2, 2025
Tampa International Airport (TPA) and San Diego International Airport (SAN)
- Currently, once a week, increased to daily Thursdays-Mondays, starting Oct. 2, 2025
Orlando International Airport (MCO) and McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) in Knoxville, Tenneessee
- Daily, starting March 2026

In April, Travel + Leisure reported that the airline was relaunching some dormant routes for the winter and holiday season to provide travelers more options to get back and forth to Florida and California, including flights from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers and Tampa International Airport (TPA).