Southwest Airlines to connect Albuquerque, Nashville with nonstop flights next year

Southwest Airlines plans to launch a daily, nonstop service between Albuquerque and Nashville next year, bringing the Albuquerque International Sunport its 30th nonstop flight out of the airport.

Sunport officials said Thursday the service is expected to begin on April 8, 2025, with Southwest flights taking off from the Sunport and the Nashville International Airport.

An early look at prices shows tickets are around $300 or more out of the Sunport, according to Southwest. Prices are similar for return flights.

Richard McCurley, the city’s Aviation Department director, said the Sunport is “eager to introduce this new service to Nashville, which has long been one of our air service goals.”

“Albuquerque and Nashville share an array of similarities, particularly in the arts and outdoor lifestyle,” McCurley added.

Southwest is Sunport’s largest carrier with just over 51% of the market share as of June.

The Sunport has also added other nonstop flights in the last year.

In June, Sun Country Airlines became the eighth major airline to fly to and from the Albuquerque airport, offering a seasonal, twice-weekly nonstop service between the Sunport and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. And in September 2023, Southwest added a daily, nonstop flight between the Sunport and Long Beach Airport.

The addition of Nashville also matches a record the Sunport held in 2012 when it offered 30 nonstop flights at the time. Since COVID, those nonstops have increased from 19 in 2020 to 22 in 2021 and 24 in 2022; the Albuquerque airport was at 29 at the end of 2023.

Of the 30 nonstops, Southwest is the carrier for 16 of them, according to Sunport spokesperson Diana López Rabadán.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller in a statement said the city’s Aviation Department, which manages the Sunport, has been “pursuing this route for a long time.”

Asked what he meant by that, López Rabadán said a few reasons factored into adding the Nashville route, including that it “fills a gap in our route map by adding additional service to the east.”

“Nashville is a fast-growing airport, in particular for Southwest, and it provides travelers not only a new destination from the Sunport, but another connection point in Southwest’s network,” López Rabadán said. “Second, we’ve seen demand for Nashville increase in recent years, with nearly 80 passengers per day traveling there during peak periods via connections.”

López Rabadán said data showed that in 2023, an average of 70 passengers traveled from the Sunport to Nashville through connecting airports. She said the “number will certainly increase with a nonstop offering.”