New Flight At BWI Airport Among Southwest's Shortest: Reports

LINTHICUM, MD — Southwest Airlines recently added a flight from Baltimore to Richmond, Patch confirmed Tuesday.

The nonstop flight debuts on June 4 at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The twice-daily trip will land at Richmond International Airport through the summer months.

"Southwest Airlines is the largest airline at BWI Marshall Airport," BWI Airport Spokesperson Jonathan Dean told Patch in an email. "The airline's market share is about 69% at BWI Marshall in terms of seat capacity. For 2023, the airline had 18.3 million passengers at BWI Marshall, a passenger market share of 69.85% for the year."

At the time of publication, a $49 one-way promo fare was available for select dates and times between Baltimore and Richmond.

Aviation experts think the 121-mile, 50-minute flight will primarily serve as a funnel for passengers connecting out of Southwest's Maryland hub. The short distance and alternate transit options between Baltimore and Richmond give the route less direct city-to-city appeal.

"We recently revised our published flight schedule for June and July 2024, based on an updated expectation of new aircraft to be delivered into our fleet," Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry told Patch in an email. "In addition to slight tweaks to current flights within our network, the schedule modifications brought an opportunity to support travel demand and provide more connectivity and opportunity for Customers in Baltimore and Richmond."

BWI Airport is a 2.5-hour drive from RIC Airport. Amtrak also connects the two cities in about 4 hours.

"Presumably Southwest will offer BWI-RIC primarily to drive connections through Baltimore, which is one of the airline's largest stations," Ishrion Aviation wrote.

Simply Flying reported that this is Southwest's fifth-shortest route and second-shortest on the U.S. mainland.

This is Southwest's second BWI to Virginia flight. The airline added a flight from Baltimore to Norfolk in 2006, Simply Flying said.

Until now, that was Southwest's shortest flight out of BWI Airport. Simply Flying reported that 91 percent of Norfolk to Baltimore passengers connected to another flight.

BWI Airport is Southwest's fourth-busiest hub and its largest on the East Coast, Dean said in October 2023.

Dean said Southwest employs more than 5,300 workers out of BWI Airport. The airline is also adding a maintenance hangar at BWI, the carrier's first in the northeast U.S.

Southwest has more than 70 domestic and international destinations from BWI with hundreds of daily flights.

Customers can book flights here.