Southwest Airlines adding flights to Chicago, Austin from Panama City Beach

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla (WCTV / WJHG) - Fliers in the Florida panhandle will soon have more choices when it comes to routes from Panama City Beach.

Southwest Airlines is adding direct flights to Chicago and Austin from Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The once-a-day flights on Saturdays will start in June.

"We're going to be able to have a lot more choices this summer and it's going to be a whole lot more convenient for those coming and going from our community," says airport Executive Director Parker McClellan.

With the additions, Southwest will operate 13 flights a day to seven markets on Saturdays. Other direct markets include St. Louis, Nashville, Baltimore, Dallas and Houston.

“We are excited to offer our passengers nonstop seasonal service, which now includes two new brand destinations Chicago-Midway and Austin,” said McClellan. “Additionally, we are proud to continue to offer more one-stop destinations that will allow our passengers to reach new destinations without ever leaving the plane.”

The new flights add even more options to fliers in the region willing to travel to airports that offer budget airlines. Officials with the City of Tallahassee and Tallahassee International Airport have been courting JetBlue to add a flight between Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale, but currently, there aren't any budget airlines that serve Tallahassee.

Between Delta, American Airlines and the smaller, regional Silver Airways, TLH offers flights to and from Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Dallas/Fort Worth.

The same-plane destinations now offered out of Panama City Beach now include Boston, Cleveland, Corpus Cristi, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Providence, Rhode Island, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C.

McClellan says that by starting with Saturday-only flights, it will allow them to test the market and as they gain a better understanding of traveling patterns as they make decisions to add additional times throughout the year.

Starting off, the new flights will just be during June, July and the first part August, with the hope to expand in the future.