Southwest unveils a slew of new routes for its winter schedule

Southwest Airlines is adding more than a dozen nonstop connections to its U.S. route map. Some are entirely new routes while others mark the resumption of seasonal routes or the return of routes that Southwest had previously discontinued.

The additional routes come as Southwest rolled out its winter schedule earlier this week. With the carrier's extended schedule, flights are now bookable through March 8.

Southwest's new year-round nonstop routes are:

- Burbank-San Francisco: three daily round-trip flights. The Burbank Leader says "it's the first new route the airline has added at the Burbank airport since 2011, when it added service to Denver," according to airline spokesman Brad Hawkins.

- Sacramento-Boise: one daily round-trip flight. The Idaho Statesman notes "Southwest has operated flights out of Boise since 1994. Besides Sacramento, it provides nonstop flights to Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix, Spokane and Chicago Midway (seasonal)."

- Indianapolis-Chicago Midway: two daily round-trip flights.

- Little Rock-St. Louis: two daily round-trip flights. The route returns a route Southwest discontinued in 2013. "After this route left us in 2013 we heard from so many people, not only in Little Rock, but across the state who used the St. Louis service and asked us to do everything we could to get it back," Little Rock airport spokesman Shane Carter tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Also part of the announcement are several new routes that are being added on a seasonal basis. Among those new offerings are:

- Phoenix-Fort Lauderdale: one daily round-trip flight.

- Fort Myers, Fla.-Nashville: one daily round-trip flight.

- Fort Myers, Fla.-Buffalo: Saturday-only service

- Fort Myers, Fla.-Dallas Love: Saturday-only service

- Fort Myers, Fla.-Providence: Saturday-only service

- Fort Myers, Fla.-Washington Reagan National: Saturday-only service

In addition to the new routes, several previous seasonal routes will return to Southwest's schedule this winter. They include:

- Omaha-Orlando: Saturday-only service

- Detroit-Orlando: Saturday-only service

- Minneapolis/St. Paul-Orlando: Saturday-only service.

- Grand Rapids, Mich.-Fort Myers, Fla.: One daily round-trip flight

- Grand Rapids, Mich.-Tampa: one daily round-trip flight. The Grand Rapids Press says news of the routes come after the city's Gerald R. Ford International Airport "surpassed the 1 million passenger mark for the year in May, a figure reached earlier than any other time in the facility's history. The airport's prior record for surpassing 1 million travelers was set in June 2014."