Southwest Airlines To Expand With More International Flights

In a bid to expand globally, Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) has announced the launch of daily international flights from Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (“FLL”) to Providenciales International Airport (PLS) in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Additionally, the carrier has begun flights from FLL to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ).

Following these new services, customers will have more non-stop options from Fort Lauderdale to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Caribbean travelers will enjoy the carrier’s trademark perks: no fees for bags and changes, i.e, the carrier does not charge passengers for the first two bags checked (there are limitations to weight and size of the bag). Also, the airline does not levy a fee for travel plan changes, except that there could be fare differences.

The carrier also initiated additional flights from FLL to Grand Cayman, Belize, Montego Bay and Cancun earlier in June.

Southwest Airlinesis also scheduled to begininternational servicesnext summer. The carrier will offer services between Houston and Grand Cayman on Saturdays, beginning Jun 9, 2018. Additionally, it will start a weekly service on every Saturday between Cancun and Pittsburgh as well as Cancun and Raleigh-Durham around the same time.

The carrier further extended its summer 2018 service to Puerto Rico with daily flights between San Juan and Chicago Midway. This apart, the carrier has added a second flight between San Juan and Houston Hobby. The flights will operate on Saturdays and Sundays starting Jun 9, next year.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Southwest Airlines carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the airline space are Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) AG (OTC:DLAKY) , International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) SA (OTC:ICAGY) and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (OTC:CPCAY) . While Deutsche Lufthansa and International Consolidated Airlines sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Cathay Pacific carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Deutsche Lufthansa, International Consolidated Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways have surged more than 100%, 47% and 24%, respectively in a year.

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