Southwest Is Including Nonstop Flights to This Gorgeous Caribbean Island

The island of Sint Maarten is thought for its lovely seashores and one of the distinctive airport runways on the earth, and it’ll quickly welcome yet another factor: Southwest Airways.

The service will launch flights between each Orlando and Baltimore to the island’s Princess Juliana Worldwide Airport (SXM) subsequent 12 months, in keeping with Southwest. This marks the airline’s first new worldwide vacation spot since 2021.

Southwest will launch day by day flights from Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO) on April 7, 2026, adopted by weekend service from Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Airport (BWI) just a few days later.

“These nonstop routes permit roundtrip connections with greater than 45 airports throughout the U.S.,” Southwest wrote in an announcement, calling the vacation spot “one island” with “two heartbeats.”

The Caribbean island is cut up into two sides: the Dutch Sint Maarten and the French Saint-Martin. The principle airport is on the Dutch aspect and recognized for its unbelievable airplane recognizing with the possibility to see low-flying plane proper from the close by seaside and snap memorable photographs from the ocean or the sand with an up-close airplane within the background. Vacationers to the island also can pattern traditional Caribbean eats, hang around at one of many many widespread seashores, head out on a scuba diving expedition, take pleasure in crusing excursions, and extra. 

Vacationers trying to get a soar begin on their spring break or winter getaways can begin planning now since Southwest additionally opened its flight schedule via June 3, 2026.

Past Sint Maarten, Southwest can also be making it simpler for vacationers to move to Asia because of a brand new partnership with Taiwanese service EVA Air. This marks Southwest’s third airline partnership, becoming a member of related agreements the service has with Icelandair and China Airways.

The growth comes as Southwest undergoes a number of modifications. In Could, the airline ended its long-standing (and usually examined) coverage of providing free checked baggage. And in January 2026, the service will debut its new assigned seating coverage, placing an finish to its open seating format. The service can also be overhauling its fare courses, introducing new choices of “Primary,” “Selection,” “Selection Most popular,” and “Selection Further.”

And this week, Southwest additionally modified its plus-size seating coverage, advising prospects who want extra room to buy their additional seat throughout reserving. Beforehand, Southwest allowed plus-sized passengers to both request a free extra seat on the airport or pay for the additional seat and obtain a refund after the flight. The brand new coverage will go into impact on Jan. 27, 2026.