If it isn’t obvious yet, today’s Southwest Airlines is not your parents’ Southwest.
The airline first showed off at the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association, the global airline trade group, New Delhi, after a few days after CEO Bob Jordan talked about the potential of long-distance international destinations – thinking of Europe instead of Kansas. The conference is a celebrity of senior aviation leaders.
Southwest International Managing Director Steven Swan sat down in New Delhi to admit this.
“It’s a big change for us,” he said.
Southwest Airlines first flew outside the U.S. in 2014 — prior to that, Airtran Airways operated international flights as a Southwest subsidiary, data displayed by aviation analytics company Cirium. But since then, the airline is known for its domestic breadth.
“We understand that our customers want to go outside the country, too, and we want to be able to provide them with this opportunity,” Swan said.
It only appears in New Delhi, at least it is a symbol of internationalization for airlines.
The possibility of long-haul flights is during a time when airlines are changing dramatically. The bag stopped flying freely last week. Long-term seats will be available for sale in October. Seats will end early next year. Then, there is a possibility of a Southwest lounge in the future, or even top-notch ones.
New destinations abroad are coming soon
Southwest Airlines has not added a new international destination since Cozumel International Airport (CZM) in 2020, according to the Cirium program. This is not to say it hasn’t grown. The airline has 17 new sites from Miami International Airport (MIA) to Yampa Valley Regional Airport (HDN) near Steamboat Springs in the Colorado Mountains during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Domestic growth slowed sharply – airlines left four cities, including Cozumel in 2024 – Southwest Airlines is “transitioning” to expand its international map, as Swan said.
Swan’s diplomacy to operators is diplomatic, describing the often repeated routes of former CEO Gary Kelly, with around 50 international destinations around the Southwest.
He did say that Southwest’s next few international additions would follow the model of the cities it already serves. That is: a leisure destination in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America that caters to American tourists.
But after accessing the internet in these cities, the sky is the limit – or at least the range of one of the largest aircraft in the Southwest Boeing 737.
“We believe that its first entry into long-distance international services may involve connections to Reykjavik, which is its scope [737] Max 8s,” TD Cowen airline analyst Tom Fitzgerald wrote in a May 31 report. He cites Southwest’s existing partnership with Iceland Airlines and notes that the European Service could “drive fast reward members to drive credit card spending for common brands.”
Asked about commenting on Fitzgerald’s report, Swan said: “Everything on the largest scale draws us to add to the network.”
In January, Southwest started “excellent work” with Iceland Airlines, which was linked to by Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
Quick Rewards Partnership is in progress
One big piece missing from the Southwest Iceland Partnership is loyalty. Currently, it only links passengers and checked baggage to European Airlines flights at six U.S. airports.
Increased accruals and redemptions of fast reward points, and even possible loyalty benefits, have the potential to enrich any international collaboration capabilities of Southwest and its partners.
Southwest is working to provide customers with “the ability to use its quick reward points, no matter where they want to travel – if it’s in Asia, or in Europe, or in Africa.”
He explained that IT systems need to power loyalty matching, code classification, just like many of Southwest’s technologies in their works.
Meanwhile, travelers can expect Chinese Airlines to join Iceland Airlines as a Southwest partner in 2026. The partnership with Taiwan Airlines will look roughly the same: Travelers can book flights on two airlines on two itineraries, and the airline will transfer checked baggage. The benefits of loyalty and anything else will happen.
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