Southwest Airlines will add new nonstop flights from Milwaukee to Austin, Texas, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport announced today. The service adds a new nonstop destination not currently available from Mitchell International. The flights, which begin March 6, 2025, will operate five days per week, Monday through Friday, using Boeing 737-700 aircraft. “We know there is strong demand for flights to Austin, and we are excited to see Southwest expand with this brand new destination at MKE,” said airport director Brian Dranzik. “We look forward to offering our travelers to Milwaukee this convenient new nonstop option, and we encourage them to use this route to help us maintain this service.” With today’s announcement, Southwest now offers nonstop flights to 16 destinations from MKE. Southwest is MKE’s largest airline. In addition to the Austin route announcement, Southwest Airlines will again offer nonstop flights to popular spring break destinations in March 2025. In addition to daily service to Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers, Southwest will fly between MKE and Cancun on Saturdays and Sundays from March 6 through April 7. Nonstop flights to/from Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota/Bradenton, FL, will also be offered during the same period. Passenger traffic at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport increased 10.9% to 3,158,314 in the first half of the year. This comes after passenger traffic at the airport increased by 10.6% to 6,015,731 in 2023. The airport expects 6.3 million passengers in 2024. Although the increase in passenger activity at Mitchell International is significant, it is still below pre-pandemic levels. Passenger traffic at the airport was 3,430,771 in the first half of 2019, which is 7.9% higher than traffic at MKE in the first half of this year.