OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2014. At Midway International Airport, Southwest Airlines inaugurated international service from its busiest base of operation.  Flights to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Cancun, Mexico and Montego Bay, Jamaica all departed this morning from Midway's A Concourse.

To welcome and thank its customers, Southwest held festivities at the gate with a Caribbean-themed celebration complete with  travel-related giveaways and a photo booth that produced passport-worthy ID photos.  
 
"On behalf of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, we congratulate Southwest on launching these international routes for travelers at Midway International Airport," said Rosemarie S. Andolino, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation. "Southwest remains a great airport partner at Midway, and today's inaugural flights help support Mayor Emanuel's goal to host 55 million visitors to Chicago by 2020."
 
Today's international launch marked a milestone in the final stage of Southwest's integration with AirTran Airways.  All international flights between seven destinations outside the United States and the AirTran's nine U.S. gateway cities are now flown by Southwest.
 
Southwest began service at Midway in March 1985 and has since become the airline's busiest airport in terms of daily departures with 258 nonstop departures a day to 64 cities.