Southwest Airlines will celebrate 10 years delivering low fares and nonstop flights to upstate South Carolina on March 12. Commemorative digital billboard displays were placed on the region’s main highways and all passengers traveling southwest on March 12 will receive complimentary gift bags from Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP).
After a 15-year courtship and a community effort to attract Southwest to the GSP, the airline launched a low-fare service on Sunday, March 12, 2011, with its maiden flight to Baltimore / Washington International Airport (BWI ).
Thanks to the new passenger traffic stimulated by the “Southwest Effect”, the GSP reported an unprecedented 38% growth in passenger activity between 2010 and 2011 and was recognized as the fastest growing small airport in the United States by Airline and Airport News and Analysis. In 2012, the United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that average GSP tariffs decreased by 14 percent, the largest reduction in the country. Since Southwest’s arrival at GSP, passenger traffic has doubled from 1,301,744 in 2011 to 2,612,236 in 2019. Southwest offers daily nonstop flights to Atlanta, GA (ATL), Baltimore, MD (BWI) and Houston, TX (HOU).
“In 2011, we said that the arrival of Southwest Airlines in our region was a game changer. Ten years later, we see that the forecast has proven to be correct and that access to air services and the potential of the GSP continue to improve, ”said Dave Edwards, president and CEO of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District. “We are pleased to celebrate this milestone with Southwest Airlines and look forward to continuing to grow in the years to come.”