A month after American Airlines announced a dramatic cutback in its St. Louis schedule, Southwest Airlines took on the role of a ‘white knight’ adding nine daily flights from Lambert-St Louis International Airport, including six new nonstop destinations, beginning in May.

In September, American said it will eliminate 46 daily flights from St. Louis and end service to 20 cities by April, further eroding nonstop opportunities for St. Louis travelers. The major U.S. air carrier had in June already rolled out cuts to take effect by the end of November. Since 2003, American has slashed service at Lambert-St. Louis International, which in its glory days, had served as a hub for Trans World Airlines. American acquired TWA in 2001. The airline had accounted for 44 percent of all flights there in 2008.

The airline said the cuts were part of a “restructuring” that will leave St. Louis with 36 daily flights to nine cities on American and American Eagle aircraft.

Gerard Arpey, AMR chair and chief executive, said the restructuring “positions our company well to face today's industry challenges and allows us to remain focused on the future and on returning to profitability.”

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said American’s move was “a bad business decision. By eliminating what was left of the St. Louis hub it took over from TWA, American will be walking away from more than 620,000 passengers a year. And they will walk away from approximately $108 million in system revenue,” Slay said in his blog.

It would seem that Southwest Airlines agrees with hiz honor, announcing Oct. 21 that “the airline will continue the carrier's nearly 25 years of growth and commitment to St. Louis.”

"Our employees saw opportunity and worked vigorously to incorporate additional capacity in the St. Louis market," said Gary Kelly, Southwest chair and chief executive. We are optimizing our network strategically and strengthening the relationship between Southwest Airlines and the communities we serve."

Starting in May, Southwest will begin offering two daily nonstop, round-trip flights between Lambert and both Nashville and Los Angeles, and one daily nonstop between Lambert and Raleigh/Durham, New Orleans, Seattle and San Diego. Southwest also will add a daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul at that time, adding to the two daily nonstop roundtrips that launches in January.

Southwest Airlines began service to St. Louis on March 17, 1985, with 17 daily nonstop departures to four destinations. The airline currently operates 72 daily nonstop flights from Lambert-St. Louis with additional or connecting service to 42 destinations.

With previously announced nonstop service additions to Minneapolis/St Paul and Boston Logan (beginning January 10, 2010) and the May additions, Southwest becomes the dominant airline serving St. Louis, in terms of daily departures.

Southwest’s move will maintain nonstop flights between St. Louis and Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, San Diego and New Orleans.

“We have a great relationship with Southwest and we knew that it could be the first to capitalize on destinations that have proven very successful in this market,” said Richard Hrabko, Lambert’s Director. “The new service shows that St. Louis is still a strong local market and we’re working hard to make connections to other cities that face lost service in the coming months.”

“Our employees saw opportunity and worked vigorously to incorporate additional capacity in the St. Louis market, said Kelly. “We are optimizing our network strategically and strengthening the relationship between Southwest Airlines and the communities we serve.”

Southwest announced earlier this month it’s also adding an additional daily flight to Baltimore, Dallas, Las Vegas and Orlando beginning in March. With the new May schedule, Southwest will be operating about 83 flights a day from Lambert to 31 destinations.

Despite the good news, Lambert will continue to look for additional low-cost and regional carriers to make up for the lost flights. Lambert-St. Louis International Airport commissioners recently approved an expanded $1.7 million incentives package to encourage airlines to add flights and destinations.

Starting in January, Lambert will give airlines that start service in St. Louis a year-long waiver on landing fees and terminal rents as long as the carriers guarantee at least two years of service, under a plan presented to the commissioners by Brian Kinsey, Lambert’s assistant director of marketing and business development, according to local news reports.