Southwest now flying own planes to Cancun, Los Cabos

Southwest Airlines began flying its own planes to two more international airports Sunday, adding the Mexican beach destinations of Cancun and Los Cabos.

To Cancun, Southwest now offers nonstop service from Atlanta and Baltimore/Washington. Saturday-only service from Milwaukee will begin Saturday (Aug. 16.) To Cabo San Lucas, Southwest is flying nonstop from Orange County, Calif.

Southwest had previously served the Mexican destinations via its AirTran subsidiary, which it acquired in 2011.

Southwest has slowly been converting AirTran's routes and destinations into its own operation. AirTran's international destinations, however, have been among the last to convert to Southwest-operated service. One of the chief reasons for that had been Southwest's reservation system, which needed an upgrade to handle international itineraries.

But Southwest finally went international on July 1, when it started flying its own planes on international routes for the first time on routes to Aruba, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

The next international destinations to get Southwest-operated flights: Mexico City and the Dominican Republic beach resort of Punta Cana. Southwest will begin routes to those destinations on Nov. 2.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Southwest added a Saturday-only route between Atlanta and Nassau in the Bahamas.