Southwest adds back MCO after year long hiatus with the route

Southwest Airlines has announced the return of its nonstop route between Richmond International Airport (RIC) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), which was last served on Saturday's only during the COVID-19 pandemic. This move comes after Southwest cut their presence at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which included a route cut of Richmond-Atlanta (which ends April 7, 2025).

The route will operate 5x weekly per the Southwest schedule, operating on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. Southwest will now be competing along with jetBlue, Spirit, and Allegiant* in the Orlando market.

As of writing this article, jetBlue serves MCO 2x daily, Spirit serves MCO 4x weekly, and Allegiant serves SFB 2x weekly. This means 4 airlines will be operating flights to Orlando out of Richmond. Time will tell if there is actually enough demand to sustain four airlines on the route.

Southwest now operates five routes out of Richmond: Baltimore (2x daily), Chicago (1x daily), Denver (4x weekly), and now Orlando (5x weekly), with their current market share at Richmond at 8.68% according to data from June 2024.

*Allegiant flies to SFB, not MCO, but still considered an Orlando Airport