Texas News

New nonstop flights coming to Austin airport in the months ahead

KUT 90.5 | By Nathan Bernier

Published September 15, 2025 at 12:33 PM CDT

Delta and Southwest are increasing nonstop flights at ABIA as competition heats up between the two biggest carriers in Austin.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is heading into the fall with a packed schedule of nonstop flights. Airlines have unveiled a slate of routes that will connect Central Texas travelers to Mexico City's newest airport, Florida's beaches, Colorado's mountains and more.

The number of seats available on flights out of Austin — an industry metric known as "seat capacity," which takes into account the size of planes in addition to the number of flights — will grow by 10% this fall compared to last year.

Fierce competition between the airport's two largest airlines may benefit consumers as Southwest and Delta battle for market share. Southwest still controls more than 40% of the market, but Delta has already carried more than 1 million passengers to and from the city this year, up 12% from 2024.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan outlined the airline's big plans in an interview with the Austin Business Journal last month. He said the Dallas-based airline is on track to "make Austin the largest airport and largest service we have in the whole state of Texas."

The remark caught the attention of ABIA officials. An airport executive in charge of recruiting new flights called the comments "profound."

"We currently have 131 [daily] departures on Southwest. Houston has 187, and Dallas Love has 210," ABIA's Deputy Chief of Air Service Jamy Kazanoff told airport commissioners last week, spelling out exactly what Jordan's comments imply. "That would be a lot of [flights] for Southwest and Austin."

But Delta remains the fastest growing carrier at ABIA — for now.

"I think the average Austin traveller is going to see fares come down," said Joe McCulloch, who writes about air travel at ATXJetsetter.com. "It's going to be a bloodbath in Austin for the next couple of years."

Here's some of what's on the horizon:

Delta Airlines

Over the next few months, Delta is adding more nonstop destinations out of Austin than any other airline.

Palm Springs, California: starting as Saturday-only service on Nov. 8 and increasing to daily flights on Dec. 20
Denver: two flights each day starting Nov. 9
Miami: one flight each day beginning Nov. 22
Cancún, Mexico: one daily seasonal flight from Dec. 20 through April 12
San José del Cabo, Mexico: one daily seasonal flight from Dec. 20, but instead of ending in January, it will now extend through April 12
Columbus, Ohio: one daily flight launching June 7
Kansas City, Missouri: two flights each day as of June 7
Service increases coming in 2026: extra flights to San Francisco and Indianapolis
Service scaling back: Panama City, Florida, will reduce from daily flights to to Saturday-only service from Jan. 5 to March 8 — a significant reduction during the winter months.
Service ending: Midland/Odessa with the last flight on Nov. 8

Southwest Airlines

Jacksonville, Florida: Six flights per week starting Oct. 2
Hayden/Steamboat Springs, Colorado: Saturday-only seasonal service starting March 7
Fort Myers, Florida, Saturday-only seasonal service starting March 7
Palm Springs, California: Saturday and Sunday nonstop service during March-April 2026
Pensacola, Florida: Service launching every day except Tuesday and Wednesday during March-April 2026
Service ending: The last flights to Chicago O'Hare flights will be Nov. 1.

Viva Aerobus

Mexico City: Three flights per week to Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which opened to commercial airlines in 2022, starting Nov. 20

JetBlue Airways

Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Twice-daily service resuming Nov. 20 (last operated April 2024)

Copa Airlines

Panama City, Panama: Fifth weekly flight from December 2025 to January 2026

Air Canada

Montreal: Seasonal service being extended to a year-round route starting Oct. 25 with three flights per week through March 27

Capacity cuts

Lufthansa is trimming capacity to Frankfurt, Germany by downgrading the aircraft from a Boeing 787-9 to a smaller Airbus A330 and shifting to a lighter schedule of three days per week starting Oct. 26.
Aeroméxico switched from two smaller jets each day to a single larger Boeing 737, citing reduced appetite for U.S.-Mexico travel.
WestJet never launched service to Vancouver, Canada, due to weaker demand.
Allegiant is cutting back service from 12 cities to six this fall, seven in the winter and then four routes by spring 2026: Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Provo, Utah.