Southwest accounts for over half of the 2.8 million passengers through T.F. Green Airport so far this year.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines Co., which had resisted the kinds of capacity cuts being made by other carriers, will eliminate nearly 200 flights early next year — including two daily departures from Rhode Island — as it struggles with high fuel costs and a weakening economy.

The move raised doubts about the company’s publicly stated goal of growing modestly next year despite the airline industry’s troubles.

Now, Southwest will cut 196 flights nationwide while adding only six new ones in its schedule that takes effect Jan. 11.

That is nearly 6 percent of the airline’s daily schedule of close to 3,400 flights.

The schedule changes will be felt at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, where Southwest is the largest carrier.

Effective Jan. 11, the airline will cut one of its daily departures from Green to Orlando, Fla., and one of its daily departures from Green to Chicago’s Midway airport.

That will leave Southwest with five daily departures from Green to Orlando, and three from Green to Midway, Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said.

Overall, the number of Southwest’s daily departures from Green will drop to 29 from the current 31, she said.

Southwest is the largest carrier at Green and has accounted for more than half of the 2.8 million passengers who have traveled through the airport so far this year. Up to now, Southwest has brought 105,603 more passengers through Green than it did last year.

Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said yesterday that some of the eliminated flights on the airline’s nationwide network could be restored later next year. Late winter is typically a slow travel period.

“This is a response to a slower traffic period, and we’re giving ourselves some operational flexibility in the winter months,” he said.

Southwest is better insulated than its rivals from high jet-fuel prices because it bought options to get most of its fuel at below-market prices. Still, the airline’s fuel bill has been rising, eating into margins at the most consistently profitable U.S. carrier.

Chairman and chief executive officer Gary Kelly said in June that the Dallas-based low-cost carrier hoped to grow modestly next year. But he tempered that outlook by saying the expansion plans could be scrapped if oil prices remain high or the economy weakens.

At the time, Kelly said Southwest still planned to add 14 new planes next year. Mainz said yesterday that new planes will be added while older aircraft are retired, keeping the airline’s fleet “relatively flat.” Southwest has about 530 jets, all Boeing 737s.

Southwest is the only major U.S. carrier to earn a profit in the first half of the year — it has not lost money in a quarter since early 1991. Like other carriers, Southwest has been raising fares to offset rising fuel prices, and Kelly has said more increases are likely.

Southwest serves more than 60 U.S. airports and is not leaving any of them under the new schedule. But it is ending some nonstop service, such as that between Nashville, Tenn., and Oakland, Calif. The carrier is mainly reducing the frequency of flights on routes across its network.

The airline will add six new flights; round trips between Phoenix and Burbank, Calif., Las Vegas and Orange County, Calif., and Baltimore and Orlando, Fla.

Southwest’s reduction of nearly 6 percent is still far smaller than capacity cutbacks at other U.S. airlines.

American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, is cutting about 8 percent of capacity after Labor Day — and up to 12 percent of its domestic flying. United Airlines says it expects to cut domestic capacity about 16 percent, and Delta, Northwest and Continental also have announced cuts.

The airlines are grounding planes and laying off thousands of workers to save money in the face of higher fuel bills.

The Air Transport Association, a trade group for the big carriers, predicts U.S. airlines will spend $61.2 billion this year on fuel, up from $41.2 billion last year.