Southwest kicks off ‘red-eye’ flights with Las Vegas gate party

The first rain in seven months didn’t dampen Southwest Airlines’ mood to celebrate.

The Dallas-based commercial air carrier — the busiest at Harry Reid International Airport with 21.7 million passengers, 37 percent of the people who got on planes at the Las Vegas airport in 2024 — kicked off its first overnight “red-eye” flights with a party at one of its Reid gates Thursday.

Southwest actually had a trifecta of firsts to celebrate Thursday. In addition to launching the first overnight flights from Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando on Thursday, the airline flew its first nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a restricted airport with limited nonstop flights of more than 1,250 miles.

Also on Thursday, a new commercial agreement between Southwest and Icelandair took effect. Eventually, that means Southwest customers will be able to book flights to Europe on Southwest’s website via Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The initial Las Vegas red-eye flights were among five that began Thursday that will grow to 33 by June.

Steve Christl, vice president of operations, strategy and design for Southwest, said the company’s red-eye strategy will be good for greater aircraft utilization and will be beneficial to customers flying from west to east, particularly from Hawaii.

“When we think about Hawaii and those connection opportunities, we’ve actually increased the connections by 50 percent,” Christl said in an interview at the airport. “So now, folks in Hawaii can stay there longer, take a late night flight, connect, and make it home on that day. So it’s highly desirable for anybody that’s returning from Hawaii. It’s great for our frontline folks as well, with additional flying that they can bid on. And it allows us to compete with other carriers that are doing the same thing.”

Christl said with initial rollout of red-eyes, many senior employees bid to fly the routes. He said if demand is good, the airline would consider adding more late flights to the mix. He expects demand to pick up for the Orlando route for upcoming summer travel.

Southwest in December announced schedules for the airline’s new Las Vegas-to-Washington route, which is a continuation of a flight originating in Sacramento, California.

The company hasn’t heavily promoted the new route out of respect to victims of the midair collision there that killed 67 people on Jan. 29.

Southwest’s new agreement with Icelandair, signed in mid-January, is an interline agreement that eventually will provide easier access to customers to fly between Europe and North America.

Icelandair flies several routes to European destinations through Reykjavik and will initially connect with Southwest in Baltimore. The airlines said future connecting flights will occur through Denver and Nashville, Tennessee.

At the gate party Thursday night, Southwest employees decorated with balloons and signs and gave away Southwest swag to passengers.