Southwest Airlines is quietly reshaping its network out of Dallas Love Field, the airport it has served for 55 years and one of the first three on its map. Between October 2026 and May 2027, the airline plans an average of 381 daily takeoffs and landings at DAL — but six routes that existed earlier in 2026 won't be coming back within the current schedule window.
The biggest name on the cut list is Chicago O'Hare. Southwest actually pulled out of ORD entirely in June, a logical move given its sprawling operation at nearby Chicago Midway, which remains busier for the airline. The other dropped routes are Fresno, Myrtle Beach, Spokane and Bozeman — all pandemic-era additions from 2021 or 2024 — plus the seasonal Palm Springs link.
That last one is the clearest case of a route simply not working. Southwest first flew nonstop from DAL to the Californian desert resort in November 2021, a route that had never existed before, and it has chopped and changed ever since: daily service through mid-2023, a return in early 2024, then just short winter runs in 2025 and 2026. In February 2026 the airline carried only 399 passengers on the route, filling 48.5% of seats — its worst load factor out of Love Field except for Midland/Odessa. Fliers to Palm Springs from Dallas have long had alternatives via DFW, where American has served the route for decades.
Not everything missing from the schedule is a cut. Boise, Hartford and Providence simply fall outside the published window, which currently ends June 2 — Southwest typically resumes summer routes around June 6-7, so expect those to reappear. Hartford only launched from DAL in June 2026.
Elsewhere in the network, there's a notable shift in the pecking order: Las Vegas' Harry Reid International is set to overtake Denver as Southwest's busiest airport, with 490 daily movements versus Denver's 476. Nashville is the real growth story, up 14% with multiple new routes, as Southwest leans on BNA as a connecting alternative to Atlanta and St. Louis. The airline also reached Alaska for the first time this year and now operates to 121 airports, 107 of them domestic.
For travellers, the practical upshot: if you're flying from Love Field to Palm Springs, Myrtle Beach, Spokane, Fresno or Bozeman, you'll need to connect or look at other carriers from DFW from late 2026. Everyone else flying through DAL should see little change — it's still Southwest's seventh-busiest airport and firmly at the heart of its network.
