At this rate, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport might need more monitors to list flight departures.
Several airlines, including Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways, have either added or extended services to domestic and international destinations in recent months, according to Jonathan O. Dean, communications manager for the Maryland Aviation Administration.
AirTran has been making moves in recent weeks, announcing it will continue seasonal service from BWI to Portland, Maine, until January 2008. The service launched June 7 and was expected to end Nov. 6, but the airline extended the service because of increasing demand.
AirTran also is in its first few months of offering service from BWI to Seattle. The flight is the airline?s first transcontinental service out of BWI and has been taking off since the end of May. Seattle continues to be one of the most popular destinationsout of BWI, Dean said.
“We?re doing extremely well in Baltimore/Washington ? we?ve built a focus city there,” said Tad Hutcheson, vice president of marketing and sales for AirTran. “We?ve had great success, and we?re adding routes where there is a demand.”
AirTran had been operating out of BWI since December 2001. During peak summer travel time, the airline schedules 45 departures from BWI, second only to Southwest, Hutcheson said.
Southwest is staying busy, resuming service from BWI to Pittsburgh in March and adding flights to Denver and Orlando in May. On Aug. 4, the airline will begin offering nonstop service to Oklahoma City and add a daily flight to and from St. Louis. Baltimore is Southwest?s fourth-largest hub.
“Baltimore is such a great city for us ? it?s one of our largest operations,” said Whitney Eichinger, spokeswoman for Southwest. “The demand for service to Pittsburgh was high, so it?s great to add another destination from Baltimore.”
Additionally, since the end of May, Air Greenland has offered nonstop service from Baltimore to Greenland ? the first nonstop route from the United States. The seasonal service is scheduled to operate through August.
BWI serviced more than 56,000 passengers and handled more than 800 operations per day last year. In fiscal 2006, the airport generated a $16.29 million surplus, according to the Maryland Aviation Administration.
