Southwest Airlines to add seasonal flights to San Diego

Pittsburgh is getting more airline service to the West Coast and adding a new city to its repertoire.

Southwest Airlines will add seasonal, nonstop service from Pittsburgh International Airport to San Diego starting next summer, the airline announced Thursday.

Flights on to San Diego International Airport will start June 8 and operate through August.

Direct flights between Pittsburgh and San Diego will only run on Saturdays, according to the airline’s schedule extension.

The inbound flight will leave from San Diego at 8:35 a.m. Pacific Time and arrive in Pittsburgh at 4:10 p.m local time. The outbound flight will depart from Pittsburgh International at 4:35 p.m. local time and arrive in San Diego at 6:35 p.m. Pacific Time.

Southwest will have 31 daily departures on average out of Pittsburgh by next summer. That’s the most it has operated in a summer from PIT.

“Southwest is continuing its plans to better optimize its network in the post-pandemic environment, responding to leisure and business travel trends, and we hope our customers at PIT enjoy this new transcontinental service to sunny Southern California,” said Brook Sorem, the airline’s vice president of Network Planning.

San Diego will become the fourth direct connection from Pittsburgh to the West Coast. Currently, PIT provides direct flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The last time Pittsburgh had direct flights to San Diego was 2019.

Southwest also recently increased frequency to Phoenix, Austin, and Orlando from Pittsburgh. On Nov. 5, the airline will add a third daily, nonstop flight to Atlanta.

When San Diego service begins, Southwest will serve 19 cities directly from Pittsburgh, the most of any airline, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority.