If you’re flying out of Austin in 2026, the list of places you’ll be able to reach nonstop...

If you’re flying out of Austin in 2026, the list of places you’ll be able to reach nonstop is changing, and in many cases, the destinations are tilting in a more vacation-friendly direction.

New flights will make it easier to head straight to ski towns, beach cities and Midwest hubs, even as a handful of familiar nonstop options quietly fade away.

Add it all up, and the number of seats for sale is set to rise nearly 9% in the first three months of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to airport data.

Much of that change is being driven by Southwest Airlines, the dominant carrier at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which is preparing to offer unprecedented numbers of flights this summer.

Southwest announced this month that it will be launching a crew base in March at ABIA, allowing the Dallas-based carrier’s local employees to start and end their days in Austin. The city of Austin and the state of Texas are paying Southwest millions of dollars to go on a hiring spree, with some 2,000 new jobs expected.

“The benefits go to the traveling public,” airport CEO Ghizlane Badawi promised. She said the crew base will mean more nonstop Southwest flights and greater reliability, especially when it gets busy or if there’s bad weather.

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