New Flights To Airline Hub Will Open Up Many Connections From MKE
Southwest's presence in Milwaukee is smaller than it once was, but new flights to nearby state offers improved connectivity.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet. Photo by Tomás Del Coro, CC BY-SA 2.0
Southwest Airlines recently announced an expansion that will open up new destinations, and flight options, for travelers flying out of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
In 2026, Southwest will start flying twice-daily between Milwaukee Mitchell and Midway International Airport in Chicago, connecting local travelers to more destinations with connecting flights out of Midway. The new service will start flying March 6 next year.
Southwest has an even bigger footprint at Midway, carrying a majority of passengers traveling out of the airport on Chicago’s south side. Midway also had more than twice as many flights as Milwaukee Mitchell this past June, and offers significantly more international flights.
Southwest does not operate traditional hubs, like other major carriers, where a huge amount of service is concentrated in a single airport. However, it is the biggest carrier for Milwaukee Mitchell, flying more passengers to and from the airport than any other major airline. The airline scheduled nonstop flights to 17 destinations from Milwaukee in 2025, though the total is down from 24 a decade ago.
The airline is also expanding the destinations it serves out of San Diego International Airport, which will also aid Milwaukee travelers. Milwaukee area travelers will be able to fly Southwest daily, year-round on connecting flights to Eugene, Oregon; Maui, Hawaii; Portland, Oregon; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Seattle. Though local travelers can already fly to Seattle directly on Alaska Airlines service operating out of Milwaukee
Southwest Announcement Comes as Milwaukee Mitchell Traffic Wanes
Milwaukee Mitchell officials have been working for years to make the airport an attractive option for travelers who live in the region. More passenger demand will help the airport attract new flights from the carriers and serve more destinations.
While COVID-19 decimated air travel at the airport 2020, passenger traffic at Milwaukee Mitchell has steadily rebounded since then. However, the first six months of passenger data for 2025 shows the airport saw approximately 280,000 fewer passengers than in 2024.
Update: A previous version of this story referred to nonstop flights as direct flights.
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God, I can’t imagine a less convenient connecting flight from MKE to Seattle or Portland than *through* San Diego.
That said, down here in Chicago, Midway is a dream compared to O’Hare, at least if you live in Chicago. Typically fewer delays and cancellations per capita, and at Midway you don’t get those awful, hour-long taxis for touchdown at O’Hare to arrival at the gate…
I don’t think the positive theme of this article is correct. With the VC takeover of southwest and enshitification now taking place, they have stated that they will be moving closer to a hub and spoke system as they try and duplicate the annoying practices of other airlines. This is all an attempt to pump up the stock price prior to dumping it.
This is likely step one towards a dramatic reduction in southwest non stop flights out of Milwaukee. Establish the MKE-MDW route, then start removing “duplicate” flights as their new policies require more planes to operate (but no plans to buy any).
Flying MKE ORD for a connection on UA and AA is a mess, If that’s the only option it’s often best to find another way to ORD on the ground. MDW will have all the same negatives but not as easily accessible via ground.
Agreed, with all the other changes coming to WN I think a connection to MDW is a bad omen, not a good one.
A connection to MDW might be useful – I often fly out of there and take the train down – but it’s another sign that Southwest is radically changing. The old WN was good for Milwaukee, it’s hard to see how these changes will be better for us up here.
Sure wish the new Midwest Express would pop sometime soon. They announced initial routes to Omaha, Cincinnati, and Grand Rapids a while back and looks like the partners ponied up $1M in startup in May of this year…
https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/91552-wisconsins-midwest-express-raises-1mn-ahead-of-launch
MDW will seem like a dream because this week per flightradar24, they have 225 flights a day or 4 times what MKE will have.
ORD will have 1,244 flights this week. A simple search on FR24 shows ORD is the busiest airport by traffic in the world.
I’d much rather be stranded at O’Hare than at Midway.
I won’t be flying Southwest anymore once they go the way of other airlines. The connections as this article states are kind of ridiculous.
We’ve stopped flying out of Mitchell because we’d rather drive and park in CHI to take a direct flight; usually Bay Area or northern CA. I hate connecting flights to get to where we’re going. Sucks, because I remember when I could fly direct from Mitchell all the time.
Midwest Express? Ahh, the good old days. I believe there is more of a market for it (& its chocolate chip cookies!), now than ever before as carriers try to serve passengers who are clamoring and paying for a more comfortable premium product over the current sardine-packed experience. Heck, even Spirit is trying!
MKE needs to market more heavily to northern Illinois because the experience is much better here and easier than ever to get to via Amtrak & its more premium product. Yes, we still need more direct flights.