On June 5, Southwest did something unusual. It inaugurated not one or two but six West Coast routes from Baltimore, the carrier’s fourth-busiest airport across its network based on daily aircraft movements. It now serves Long Beach, Ontario, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle, two of which have not previously had nonstop flights from the Maryland airport.

IATA/ICAO Code

WN/SWA

Hub(s)

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dallas Love Field, Denver International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Midway International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Year Founded

1967

Cirium Diio data shows that the additional destinations bring Southwest’s Baltimore network to 77 routes in June. It rises to 78 in the remainder of the year, with the seasonal return of infrequent Los Cabos flights. They’ll operate on November 22 and 29, December 20 and 27, and then from January 2026.

Southwest Begins 6 West Coast Routes In 1 Day

According to the US Department of Transportation and Cirium Diio data, it is the first time that Long Beach and Ontario have ever had Baltimore flights. It is even more significant than this. Ontario has not previously had any flights from the Greater D.C. area. Long Beach has, but they ended 11 years ago, when JetBlue (it’s true!) ceased Washington Dulles service. It served the market between 2002 and 2014.

US DOT data suggests that D.C.-Ontario had 31,000 round-trip local passengers last year, while Long Beach had 11,000. In both cases, Southwest was the leading operator. Of course, Long Beach’s figure, in particular, isn’t a true reflection of the market size, as it does not include passengers who traveled overland to Los Angeles International or other LA-area airports.

Southwest’s New Longest Route Fully Within The US Mainland

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At 2,135 nautical miles (4,550 km) each way, Baltimore to San Francisco is Southwest’s new longest route within the US mainland. If Hawaii is included for completeness, it is only the carrier’s 13th-longest airport pair systemwide. All the others involve Hawaii.

San Francisco-bound flights use the flight number WN3036. The schedule varies daily. Consider the current week. On Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, flights leave Maryland at 12:30 and arrive in California at 15:15 local time. On Sundays, it’s 14:10-17:00; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it’s 15:00-17:50; and on Saturdays, it’s 17:40-20:35. Returning, WN4476 has a consistent schedule, leaving San Francisco at 21:00 and arriving at 05:05+1.

Related

Southwest Airlines’ 10 Busiest Airports Have Over 3,900 Daily Movements

Over half of Southwest’s passengers at its busiest airport connected to another flight last year.

All 6 Routes Have Overnight Flights To Baltimore

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Southwest is undertaking many things it previously eschewed. The changes (a selection of which are discussed here) were primarily implemented at the behest of Elliott Management to increase productivity and revenue, reduce costs, and ultimately improve financial performance. On February 13, 2025, Southwest began its first scheduled overnight flight. Until 2017, it couldn’t schedule them due to its old reservation system. It refused to have red eyes until now.

Given the stage lengths and timezone changes, it is hardly surprising that the six West Coast routes have overnight flights back to Baltimore. The schedules are summarized below. Arriving so early helps passengers connect to Southwest’s first departure bank of the day. They add to the other very early transcon arrivals from Los Angeles (05:00), San Diego (05:00), Phoenix (05:05), Sacramento (05:05), Denver (05:15), and Las Vegas (05:15).