Southwest Is Including Nonstop Flights to This Gorgeous Caribbean Island

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

The provider will launch flights between each Orlando and Baltimore to the island’s Princess Juliana Worldwide Airport (SXM) subsequent yr, in accordance 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) a couple of days later.

“These nonstop routes enable roundtrip connections with greater than 45 airports throughout the U.S.,” Southwest wrote in a press release, 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 primary airport is on the Dutch aspect and recognized for its unbelievable airplane recognizing with the prospect to see low-flying plane proper from the close by seashore and snap memorable photographs from the ocean or the sand with an up-close airplane within the background. Vacationers to the island can even pattern basic Caribbean eats, hang around at one of many many common seashores, head out on a scuba diving expedition, get pleasure from crusing excursions, and extra. 

Vacationers seeking to get a leap begin on their spring break or winter getaways can begin planning now since Southwest additionally opened its flight schedule by means of June 3, 2026.

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

The enlargement comes as Southwest undergoes a number of modifications. In Might, the airline ended its long-standing (and typically examined) coverage of providing free checked baggage. And in January 2026, the provider will debut its new assigned seating coverage, placing an finish to its open seating format. The provider can also be overhauling its fare courses, introducing new choices of “Primary,” “Alternative,” “Alternative Most well-liked,” and “Alternative Additional.”

And this week, Southwest additionally modified its plus-size seating coverage, advising clients who want extra room to buy their further 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.