Southwest Airlines is planning to operate overnight flights for the first time in its history. The airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ryan Green, announced the plans to introduce nighttime flights from Las Vegas and Hawaii at an aviation conference on Wednesday. Green had previously hinted about the shift last year. Although there are still some labor and technological issues to be resolved, the airline aims to launch the flights in about two years.
According to Green, Southwest has the potential to offer around 50 red-eye flights each day. Red-eye flights, which are named after their effect on travelers’ eyes, are available on most major airlines. They are often more economical to book than daytime flights, and they also allow West Coast travelers to leave after work and arrive in time for an early morning conference on the East Coast.
It is a common practice among airlines to schedule flights for midnight hours because they can make more money from an aircraft by doing so, rather than keeping it idle at the airport until the next morning. According to aviation analytics company, Cirium Diio, on a random Thursday in March, there were at least 26 overnight flights from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas that took off after 9 p.m. This was the case for almost every American airline. These flights, with an average travel time of four hours or more, connect Las Vegas to major cities such as Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.
