Southwest adds another flight to its Fresno service. Where is it flying to — and when?

Southwest Airlines added a fourth daily round-trip between Fresno and Las Vegas this week, a seasonal boost to the schedule that is expected to continue through August.

The new flight began service on Tuesday and will operate every day of the week except for Saturdays. The inbound flight from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas departs shortly after noon and arrives at Fresno Yosemite International Airport at about 1:20 p.m.

The return flight leaves Fresno at about 2 p.m. and arrives in Las Vegas shortly after 3 p.m.

A Southwest spokesperson said the added flight is addressing summer seasonal demand in Fresno. The airline will return to its three-daily-flight schedule to and from Las Vegas in September.

Southwest offers two flights each way between Fresno and Las Vegas on Saturdays.

Earlier this year, Las Vegas overtook Dallas as the most popular destination for airline passengers flying nonstop from Fresno.

Airline traffic data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that between April 2020 and March 2021 – a period in which the global COVID-19 pandemic devastated the travel industry – about 27,500 passengers flew from Fresno to Las Vegas, most aboard Allegiant Air, which has served the Fresno market since 1998.

From April 2021, when Southwest Airlines entered the Fresno market, to March 2022, the number of Las Vegas-bound passengers ballooned to more than 165,000.

By comparison, about 155,000 passengers flew from Fresno to Dallas in the same 12-month period.

The continued fading of the coronavirus pandemic from the flying public’s consciousness, coupled with the additional seasonal Southwest flight, will likely boost that number even higher this year.

In addition to Southwest’s 26 round trips each week between Fresno and Las Vegas, Allegiant Air offers 13 round trips between the two cities.

The 39 combined flights by Southwest and Allegiant are by far the largest number of weekly nonstop flights to any single destination from Fresno Yosemite International Airport. American Airlines has four daily flights, or 28 weekly flights, from Fresno to Dallas on its schedule.

Besides its ambitious schedule of flights to Las Vegas, a hub which attracts people with its gambling, entertainment and dining, Southwest also has one daily nonstop flight each day of the week from Fresno to Denver.

Denver is also served from the Fresno market by United Airlines with three round trips each day.