Southwest Airlines adds Non-Stop Flights from St. Louis

For a little seasonal boost, Southwest Airlines is opening up direct access to beaches of Northwest Florida to our mid-west residents of St. Louis this summer.  In a blog post released April 2nd (sorry this wasn’t quick enough for you Andy), SWA made this announcement along with a slew of other changes/additions to their 2012 schedules.

They kidded, “So…if we announced all of this yesterday, you’d think it was an April Fool’s joke.  BUT IT’S NOT!”

Details about the flights.

The non-stop flights between St. Louis (STL) and Panama City Beach’s Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) will begin on Monday June 3 and seem to run through the end of October.  The prices look to range from $130-$200 one-way.  In the last couple years, the Midwest has become a quickly growing segment that’s interested in vacationing in our area.  Out of the top 15 states we’ve serviced guests from in the last year, our vacation rental company has accommodated guests from 5 of the official 12 Midwestern states.

In addition to the strong rental stats, looking at our traffic on PCBDaily, Missouri ranks in the top 12 for states whose residents have read our blog in the last month.

Keep a sharp eye out for other sweet additions and changes to the Southwest Airlines offerings in our area.