Southwest adds Knoxville summer flights
- Southwest Airlines began service at Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport on March 5, 2026, after announcing the move in August 2025, adding East Tennessee as the carrier’s third airport in Tennessee. - The launch started with five daily roundtrips: two flights to Nashville and one each to Baltimore/Washington, Dallas Love Field, and Orlando, with Denver, Austin, and Tampa weekend service set for spring. - Knoxville’s airport had already become the fastest-growing among the 100 largest U.S. airports in 2024, with passenger traffic up 18.6% to 3.26 million. (flyknoxville.com)
Southwest Airlines is now flying out of Knoxville after opening service at McGhee Tyson Airport on March 5, 2026. (swamedia.com) The carrier first announced the move on August 14, 2025, saying Knoxville would become Southwest’s third airport in Tennessee, alongside Nashville and Memphis. (swamedia.com) (flyknoxville.com) Southwest launched five daily roundtrips from Knoxville: twice-daily service to Nashville and once-daily flights to Baltimore/Washington, Dallas Love Field, and Orlando. (swamedia.com) By March 6, the airline said Knoxville travelers would also get weekend service in spring 2026 to Denver, Austin, and Tampa. Local station WBIR had reported in October 2025 that daily Denver service and new Tampa flights would start in June 2026. (swamedia.com) (wbir.com) Southwest executives tied the launch to Knoxville’s mix of leisure and business demand, while Tennessee officials pitched the airport as a gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains and University of Tennessee sports travel. (swamedia.com 1) (swamedia.com 2) The airport had momentum before Southwest arrived. McGhee Tyson handled 3,256,953 passengers in 2024, up 18.6% from 2023, and airport officials said that made it the fastest-growing airport among the 100 largest in the country. (flyknoxville.com) (wate.com) That growth continued into 2025. The airport’s July 2025 activity report showed 2,061,447 passengers year to date, up 14% from the same period in 2024, including a record 356,533 passengers in July alone. (flyknoxville.com) For Knoxville, Southwest’s arrival adds a large national low-fare carrier to an airport that had been expanding with other airlines and new routes. For Southwest, it adds another midsize leisure-and-connecting market in a region where the airline already had a strong Tennessee footprint. (flyknoxville.com) (swamedia.com) The opening day was staged like a homecoming, with a water-cannon salute for the inaugural Nashville-to-Knoxville flight and orange-and-white decorations at the gate. Southwest had spent years pursuing the market before finally landing in East Tennessee. (swamedia.com) (knoxnews.com)
