Southwest Airlines Announces New Flight Attendant Crew Base at Baltimore/Washington International Airport

Southwest Airlines announced today it will locate 300 of its flight attendants at a new crew base in early July 1999, at Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). The airline expects to add 500 more flight attendants to the base by the end of the year.

"Southwest Airlines continues to grow on the East Coast, so it makes perfect sense for us to open a flight attendant crew base at Baltimore/Washington," said Donna Conover, Southwest's vice president of inflight and provisioning.

The new flight attendant base will be located on the upper level of the terminal between Pier D and the International Pier. Southwest anticipates naming a manager for the crew base in May.

With the addition of the flight attendant crew base, the number of Southwest Airlines Employees located in Baltimore/Washington will grow to more than 1,500 by the end of the year. Southwest now has more than 27,000 Employees systemwide.

"By choosing BWI, Southwest once again demonstrates the business and flight operation advantages of Maryland's major airport," said Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening. "We welcome this positive development that further enhances our successful job growth efforts and strengthens the partnership between Maryland and Southwest."

Southwest currently operates 82 daily nonstop departures from Baltimore/Washington to Birmingham, Nashville, Cleveland, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston Hobby, Long Island, Jackson, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Orlando, Chicago Midway, Manchester, New Orleans, Phoenix, Providence, San Antonio, Louisville, St. Louis, and Tampa. Southwest will add service to Raleigh-Durham on June 6 with four daily nonstop flights. On August 5, Southwest will add daily nonstop service to Las Vegas from Baltimore/Washington. The airline also has direct or connecting service to 28 additional cities from BWI.

In addition to the new flight attendant crew base at Baltimore/Washington, Southwest maintains flight attendant crew bases in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, and Oakland. Systemwide, the carrier employs more than 5,250 flight attendants.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), the fourth largest domestic carrier in terms of Customers boarded, currently serves 54 cities in 27 states. Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 2,350 flights a day with a fleet of 288 Boeing 737s with an average age of 8.5 years--one of the youngest pure jet fleets in the domestic airline industry.

www.southwest.com