Jamaica is getting its non-stop Southwest connection, linking Nashville International Airport directly with Sangster International Airport come spring next year.

Southwest Airlines is scheduled to resume seasonal Saturday service to Montego Bay on March 13, 2027. The route covers 1,326 miles, and the scheduled flight is about 3 hours and 15 minutes, putting Jamaica’s biggest resort gateway within a single flight of Middle Tennessee. 

The service will operate once every Saturday, bringing back a route Southwest operated during a short seasonal run last spring. It is a useful return for western Jamaica, particularly because the Saturday schedule fits naturally with the seven-night vacations that remain a staple of Montego Bay, Rose Hall and Negril.  

The move comes as Nashville’s Caribbean network continues to grow with Southwest adding Saturday flights to Aruba and St. Thomas on the same March 13 date.

Service was first launched last March 

Southwest first launched the Nashville-Montego Bay nonstop service on March 7 with Saturday flights operating during a limited spring window. The airline is now putting the seasonal route back on the schedule beginning March 13.

The returning service gives Nashville travellers a nonstop option that avoids a connection through Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale or another major gateway. If your trip follows the Saturday schedule, the route is particularly well suited to a full week in Jamaica.

The flight time puts Sangster within roughly the same travel window as many domestic leisure destinations from Tennessee, but with the beaches and resorts of western Jamaica waiting on the other end. The Saturday-only frequency does require planning around the operating day. 

Service just in time for many hotel reopenings

A Saturday departure and Saturday return is the simplest way to use the nonstop in both directions. The returning Southwest service will also arrive after another wave of resort reopenings across western Jamaica.

Sandals Montego Bay is scheduled to reopen December 18 after a major redevelopment. Nearby, the former Sandals Royal Caribbean will reopen on the same date with a new identity as Sandals Caribbean Cay.  

The work is part of a US$200 million investment across three Sandals resorts in Jamaica, including Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Caribbean Cay and Sandals South Coast. By the time Southwest’s Nashville service returns in March, those hotels will once again be part of the island’s available room inventory.

Royalton is restoring another major share of the region’s all-inclusive inventory. Royalton Blue Waters MoBay and Hideaway at Royalton Blue Waters are scheduled to reopen September 15, following the return of Royalton properties in Negril.

UNICO 18°77° Montego Bay is slated to open March 1, less than two weeks before the first Nashville flight of the spring schedule. The adults-only all-inclusive resort is planned with 451 rooms, including swim-out accommodations, along with a large spa and multiple food-and-beverage concepts.

The sequence gives March an unusually active calendar for the destination: a major new resort at the beginning of the month followed by the return of nonstop Southwest service from Nashville.