HARLINGEN — Southwest Airlines has announced multiple new flights to and from Valley International Airport to Austin, Dallas and Houston, airport officials said Monday.

Effective March 10, Southwest will add two nonstop daily flights to Austin six days a week with the lone exception being Saturdays.

The Austin flights will mean same-day round-trip opportunities for anyone wishing for a flight and return to and from the state capital.

The Austin to Harlingen flights will depart at 9:15 a.m. and arrive at 10:20 a.m., with another Austin-Harlingen flight at 4 p.m. arriving at 5:05 p.m.

Flights for Austin will depart Harlingen at 10:55 a.m. and 5:40 p.m.

Southwest also is adding a daily nonstop between Dallas/Love and Harlingen, which will depart Dallas at 9:45 a.m. and arrive at 11:15 a.m. The return flight leaves Harlingen at 11:50 a.m. and arrives at 1:20 p.m.

Southwest also plans to add four daily flights between Houston/Hobby and Harlingen. These four flights range from a 6:15 a.m. departure to Houston to a flight arriving from Houston at 11:45 p.m.

These additional flights by Southwest mean the monthly number of Southwest outbound seats for March 2022 shows 26,156 available seats compared to 11,901 seats last month, a 120 percent increase, airport officials said.

“These new flights will offer even greater connecting opportunities for our RGV residents since Southwest Airlines will operate over 13,000 monthly flights starting March 2022, from Dallas, Houston and Austin, combined,” said Jose Mulet, director of air service development at VIA.

“In addition, our air cargo customers will benefit as well with more belly cargo space with the additional flights,” Mulet added.

The flights will be operated using the Boeing 737-700 aircraft which has 143 seats. The new flights are currently available for booking at www.southwest.com

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