For major US carriers like Southwest Airlines, network changes are inevitable, with new routes added as often as old ones are cut. For example, at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport(BWI), data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that nine destinations were shelved when comparing its network from January 2025 to September 2026 against October onward.

Despite this, the airport remains a key base for the airline.

Two Cuts Last Year

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The first of the nine routes to be shelved last year from Baltimore, as far as Southwest’s regular operation of scheduled commercial passenger flights is concerned, served Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) in northern California. This facility is often advertised as a nearby alternative to the larger San Francisco International Airport (SFO), but its proximity makes it hard to balance.

Southwest ceased flying from Baltimore to Oakland in March of last year. Eight months later, in November 2025, its route to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Illinois met the same fate. However, this was not a Baltimore issue: rather, the carrier has now ended all of its routes to ORD, favoring nearby Midway International Airport (MDW) instead.

The airline commented on its struggles at ORD in a statement obtained by CBS News.

“Operating at Chicago O’Hare continues to be challenging, and we are confident we can serve Chicagoland through our strongly-held position at Chicago Midway.”

Seven More Routes Have Been Removed In 2026

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Southwest’s BWI route cuts continued in earnest this year, with seven more corridors falling to the sword. As detailed in the interactive map embedded below, six were domestic, with the sole international cut affecting Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) in Mexico. This route last operated in April, although United Airlines will start flying to Los Cabos from nearby Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in October, according to travel writer Adrienne Barile.

In this year’s domestic cuts, Baltimore, Colorado Springs and Long Beach were the first routes to end, each last served in January 2026. Shortly afterward, March of this year marked the end of the line for its corridor from Baltimore to Jackson Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport (JAN) in Mississippi, which American serves from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

Most recently, in August 2026, Southwest ended three more domestic routes from Baltimore: Oklahoma City, Ontario, and Pensacola. According to Cirium, these corridors achieved respective average load factors of 84.12%, 71.15%, and 76.67% in the 12 months ending in June 2026. Its average across all Baltimore routes was 75.98%.

Baltimore Remains A Key Base For Southwest Airlines

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Southwest remains by far the largest airline in Baltimore, even after removing these nine routes. Indeed, as detailed in the table below, which looks at the airport’s five largest operators in November 2026, it has almost 12 times as many flights as second-placed Delta Air Lines, and accounts for 75% of that month’s 8,180 overall flights.

Of the 6,116 departures that Southwest has penciled in from Baltimore this November, 2,623 are set to be operated by the Boeing 737 MAX 8, followed by 2,081 with the 737-700 and 1,412 with the 737-800. Its top destination from the facility in that month will be Orlando International Airport (MCO), with up to 12 daily flights, while its longest route is the 2,457-mile (3,954 km) journey to San Francisco.