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DALLAS (NEWS CENTER) -- Southwest Airlines officially announced service to the Portland International Jetport beginning next spring.
The airline says service will begin on April 14, 2013 -- a day after it shuts down AirTran service at PWM.
Dallas-based Southwest closed on its purchase of AirTran Airways last year. Southwest has slowly been transitioning its AirTran cities to Southwest -- as well as eliminating AirTran service where the the two carriers duplicate service.
Jetport officials say they expect Southwest to continue its non-stop service to Baltimore, which AirTran offers now. Southwest is also expected to offer up to half a dozen flights daily with Chicago and Florida as possible destinations.
AirTran began service at the Portland International Jetport in 2007. Southwest is the nation's largest air carrier.
The Jetport opened its expanded terminal a year ago in hopes of attracting more airlines.
Passengers we talked say they thrilled about the having more choices when it comes to flying in and out of Maine's largest city.
"I think it's going to be great, I think not only more choices and competition brings better pricing and I think more choices people have to fly works out well for everybody," said Bob Montgomery a business traveler from Philadelphia.
Southwest will announce it's flight schedule for Portland on Monday. AirTran will continue to offer it's three daily non-stop flights to Baltimore until April 13.
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