Southwest Airlines has expanded its Caribbean portfolio, adding two flights to St. Maarten (SXM). Southwest is slowly building a presence in the Caribbean, traveling to a number of popular leisure destinations including Jamaica, Aruba, Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, with St. Thomas being the latest behind SXM.

On April 7, 2026, the Texas carrier launched service from Orlando (MCO) to Sint Maarten (SXM) offering once daily service as follows:

Flight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival TimeFrequency
WN1873Orlando (MCO)10:30 AMSt. Maarten (SXM)1:40 PMDaily except Sunday
WN1873Orlando (MCO)11:15 AMSt. Maarten (SXM)2:25 PMSundays only
WN1721St. Maarten (SXM)1:20 PMOrlando (MCO)5:10 PMSaturdays only
WN1721St. Maarten (SXM)1:35 PMOrlando (MCO)5:20 PMSundays only
WN1721St. Maarten (SXM)2:35 PMOrlando (MCO)6:20 PMMonday to Friday

Four days later, they launched service out of Baltimore-Washington (BWI), operating a once weekly rotation. Both routes are operated with their smaller Boeing 737-700s. I’m guessing once the MAX 7s come online, we will see them swapping to that.

Flight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival TimeFrequency
WN2300Baltimore/Washington (BWI)8:10 AMSt. Maarten (SXM)12:25 PMSaturdays only
WN1391St. Maarten (SXM)2:35 PMBaltimore/Washington (BWI)7:10 PMSaturdays only

St. Maarten is seeing record visitor numbers, with over 855,000 air passenger arrivals and close to 1.6 million visiting via cruise ships in 2025. With increased connectivity to the United States and within the Caribbean, St. Maarten has benefited greatly.

Guest accommodations have improved greatly as well. There are many more short-term Airbnb-style rentals are being rolled out on a regular basis, while more popular hotel chains also joined the mix in the last few years. Besides the complete rebuild of the Sonesta Maho and Ocean Point resorts, the JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort at Dawn Beach opened its doors in March 2024, while the Morgan Resort near Maho Beach opened in mid-2021.

mullet bay st maarten
Credit: Bradley Wint/Gate Checked

While not a hotel resort, Fourteen at Mullet Bay also opened in 2022, offering vacation rental homes split across two 21-story towers. Most of these units were bought specifically for short term rentals and are available on major booking marketplaces like Airbnb and Vrbo.

Even though the island of Saint Martin is very small, it offers a lot to do in terms of beaches, shopping, and food and drinks, and let’s not forget the plane spotting action from Maho Beach.

It’s quite an interesting island as you can experience both Dutch and French culture in Sint Maarten and Saint-Martin respectively without the need to go through any official border crossings. They also offer further connectively to smaller surrounding islands including Saba, St. Barts, Statia and Anguilla.

Sign up for the free Gate Checked newsletter here sent three times weekly.
Google Add as preferred source on Google WhatsApp Follow on WhatsApp