Southwest, Continental re-sign with Harlingen airport

HARLINGEN — Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines will continue to provide passenger service at Valley International Airport for another five years.

The two airlines serve close to 730,000 passengers through VIA each year.

Airport management announced this week that the airlines' renewed leases will enable "the Valley to sustain and expand its current level of economic growth."

Southwest offers an average of 11 flights a day. In February, the airline celebrated 34 years of serving the Rio Grande Valley, VIA states in a news release.

More than 657,000 passengers travel through VIA on Southwest Airlines, Aviation Director Michael Browning said Wednesday.

Continental Airlines offers about 30 departures each week from VIA to Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport where passengers can continue on to 690 national and international destinations daily, the release states.

Continental has operated at VIA for about 21 years and carries about 71,000 passengers to and from VIA yearly, Browning stated.

Sun Country Airlines provides seasonal passenger service to and from Minneapolis from the fall to April, which attracts the Valley's Winter Texan population.

Browning said that from January to April of this year, 266,904 passengers have traveled through VIA, compared to 303,775 passengers in the same period in 2008.

He also said the airport is "continuously working to attract additional service."

Browning said he expects summer travel to decrease 10 percent this year compared to last year's numbers because of the current economy.

There were 214,919 summer travelers through VIA last year.

Philip Brown, director of aviation at McAllen-Miller International Airport, said Wednesday that city officials there this week hired an air service consultant to explore the possibility of expanding services.

Brown said the consultant will help the McAllen airport determine if their data shows that they need to increase the number of flights offered or if another airline is needed.

Four airlines now provide service through McAllen: American Airlines since 1991; Continental Airlines since 1947; AllegiantAir since 2005; and Delta Connection, which began service in March.

From January to April of this year, 219,460 passengers have traveled through MMIA. During the same period in 2008, MMIA had 268,660 passengers, the airport said in a statement.

Brown said there is no way to predict summer travel this year.

In summer 2008, MMIA enplaned and deplaned 206,195 passengers.

Larry Brown, director of aviation at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

However, the Brownsville airport recently announced that American Eagle would begin service on June 11, with three daily flights to and from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Continental Airlines has provided service through Brownsville-SPI for about 16 years, The Brownsville Herald reported previously. The addition of American Eagle is the first time in its 31-year history that there will be two airlines operating at Brownsville-SPI.