MANCHESTER – Southwest Airlines, the big fish in Manchester airport’s pond, has begun the public phase of consolidating its merger with AirTran Airways, but so far there doesn’t seem to be any direct effect on New Hampshire.

One indirect effect is that Southwest will replace AirTran at the jetport in Portland, Maine, leading to the possibility of more competition to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport for customers from the Seacoast.

Southwest bought low-cost carrier AirTran in May 2010, but the two operated separately until the end of 2011. Complete consolidation of the companies is expected to take another year or two.

AirTran served 69 cities, many also served by Southwest. Southwest said this weekend that it will drop all air service to several small cities, none in New England, and will consolidate flights at two dozen more.

As part of the announcements, the company said it will drop three daily nonstops out of Manchester as of Aug. 12 – two to Baltimore-Washington and one each to Orlando and Tampa Bay. This, however, is a standard summertime route adjustment, unrelated to AirTran.

“They do the same thing every year,” said Thomas Malafronte, assistant director for airport service and marketing.

Malafronte said some people have become nervous about plans by Southwest, which handles roughly 60 percent of Manchester’s passenger traffic, because last year the airline dropped service to Philadelphia, cutting two nonstops daily from New Hampshire. It also dropped Philadelphia service from the airport in Providence, R.I., which like Manchester has long been a small-market alternative to Logan Airport in Boston.

Southwest started service to Logan two years ago, ending its long practice of avoiding big-city airports, and raising concern about its commitment to Manchester.

News that it was keeping service at Portland was greeted with relief in Maine. AirTran makes up about 13 percent of that city’s air passenger traffic.

Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King noted that the new schedule at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport runs only from Aug. 12 to Sept. 28, when an autumn schedule will kick in. Southwest, like most airlines, tweaks its schedules for seasonal changes in traffic.

Malafronte has said repeatedly, and repeated it again Monday, that Southwest plans to stay in New Hampshire despite changes at nearby airports.

“Over and over and over again they have reiterated how important Manchester is to them in the Northeast,” he said.

Last summer, Southwest signed a new five-year agreement with Manchester airport, which includes the use of five gates and a set amount of terminal space.

Southwest came to Manchester in 1998, kicking off a decade of massive growth and relatively low ticket prices for the airport.

Like all airports, Manchester has seen its passenger levels tumble due to the recession even as costs rise due to post-9/11 security issues.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.

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