Southwest Airlines has big plans for Atlanta

An executive at Southwest Airlines stated Thursday that Atlanta might become the carrier's top destination within a few years due to the merger with AirTran Airways. 

While Southwest does not currently offer flights to Atlanta, AirTran offers about 200 per day.  Southwest plans to take advantage of this by launching flights to about 20 cities where AirTran doesn't operate.

Las Vegas is Southwest's top city, with the low-cost carrier operating 224 daily flights each day. Southwest announced in September that it would be acquiring AirTran Holdings Inc. for a reported $1.4 billion. 

Source: ABC News/AP