Southwest Airlines has extended its bookable flight schedule through the end of 2026.
The low-cost carrier also unveiled new flight options, including seasonal service, increased seats for the busy holiday travel period and added flights for this summer's 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Southwest has added 16 more flights for five World Cup matches this coming June, including:
- Sunday, June 14: Japan vs. Netherlands in Dallas
- Tuesday, June 16: Argentina vs. Algeria in Kansas City
- Friday, June 19: USA vs. Australia in Seattle
- Monday, June 22: Argentina vs. Austria in Dallas
- Saturday, June 27: Argentina vs. Jordan in Dallas
The fully transformed budget airline is also giving travelers more options as they return home after Thanksgiving, announcing plans for more than 4,600 departures across the Southwest network on Sunday, November 29.
Additional 2026 highlights include seasonal service between Denver and Palm Beach, Florida and Fort Lauderdale, Florida and San Diego, in addition to new year-round service between Kansas City and San Francisco.
Finally, Southwest will beef up its presence at Orlando International Airport with up to 197 round-trips during the highest-demand days in late 2026.
Southwest Announces New IATA Partnership
Southwest also became the latest carrier to join the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Schedule Data Exchange Program (SDEP).
Launched in 2023, the airline-owned schedule and minimum connecting time exceptions database now includes as many as 190 contributing airlines.
Southwest Airlines plane at the gate. (Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines)
Participating airlines, which now include Southwest, benefit from the SDEP by sharing their schedule data to gain access to enriched global schedule data to propel their internal analytics and allow for smarter planning in the future. The program includes access to flight schedules, aircraft types, cabin configurations and cargo payload.
According to IATA, data coverage now exceeds 70 percent of available seat kilometers (ASKs) of carriers based in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and is expected to reach 90 percent coverage globally by the end of 2026.
"As an industry data set, airlines depend heavily on schedule data in their business planning. It makes sense that this data is managed and shared across all participants, and therefore, we are pleased to be active contributors to this program," Southwest's VP of Network Planning, Daniel Jones, said in a statement.
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