Southwest Airlines will launch its first international airline partnership next month, and expand its short list of international “gateways” to Denver and Nashville, the airline announced.
Baltimore had already been announced as its first such gateway, which set the stage for Southwest to officially ink an interline agreement with Icelandair at a ceremony in nearby Washington on Wednesday. TPG was on hand as executives signed a pact that will set the stage for a tie-up between the two carriers, one that will eventually allow Southwest loyalists to redeem Rapid Rewards points on flights to Iceland, Europe and beyond.
The ceremony, held inside the residence of Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S., marked what Southwest is framing as the first tangible step in a series of massive changes the Dallas-based carrier outlined last year. That transformation will eventually bring the first assigned and extra legroom seats to Southwest’s Boeing 737s.
Up first, though, is this joining-of-forces with Icelandair.
“Interline partnerships are very common in the airline industry. But it’s our first one, so it’s very exciting for us,” Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said moments before the two carriers made their partnership official.
A softer launch to the partnership
As TPG reported in September, the Southwest-Icelandair tie-up will be more limited at first.
Starting in February, travelers will be able to book itineraries featuring seamless connections between the two carriers via Icelandair’s website.
From the outset, the partnership will concentrate on just one gateway on the U.S. side: Southwest’s Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) base.
However, the carriers plan to soon expand the setup to Denver International Airport (DEN) and Nashville International Airport (BNA), Southwest executives revealed Wednesday.
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“We’ll continue to do this in phases,” Ryan Green, Southwest’s executive charged with the airline’s wholesale changes announced last year, told TPG Wednesday.
Deeper ties begin next year
Expect the two airlines’ ties to grow in 2026, after Southwest launches assigned seats; the logistics of evolving its tech systems to facilitate a partnership in its open seating era — and again after shifting to assigned seats — didn’t make sense, Green said.
Once assigned seating is live, though, Southwest plans to begin selling Icelandair seats through its booking channels. At that point, customers would be able to book flights to Keflavik Airport (KEF) and top European destinations through Southwest’s website.
“We’ll add components … , like earn and [redeem] with Rapid Rewards, and loyalty,” Green added. “And we’ll just kind of continue to layer on.”
Pomp and circumstance
The ceremonial launch of this partnership in D.C. was full of pomp and circumstance.
Southwest and Icelandair leaders exchanged gifts. The Reykjavik-based carrier offered up a piece of molten rock from a freshly-formed lava field in Iceland. Southwest came with a decorative version of its signature emblem.
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Then, leaders from both carriers raised glasses for a toast (“Skál!”) of Brennivin, Iceland’s national drink.
“This will be a wonderful partnership,” Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir, Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S., said during the festivities.
Southwest vies for global reach
Southwest plans to announce at least one additional international airline partner in 2025, executives reiterated Wednesday. Beyond that, the carrier hopes a growing list of partners will give Rapid Rewards members more destinations to pick from.
“We’re having conversations with both additional transatlantic carriers as well as transpacific carriers,” Green acknowledged. “Ultimately, this is about giving customers choices, to expand the reach and breadth of the Southwest Airlines brand beyond the reach of the 737.”
Of course, not too long ago, none of this would have been possible.
In recent years, the airline has poured cash into modernizing its notoriously outdated technical infrastructure — investments meant to do evertything from preventing another holiday 2022-esque meltdown to pave the way for changes like Souhtwest’s first redeye flights next month. Not to mention, of course, paving the way for Southwest to kick off its most global foray yet — a once hard-to-imagine tie-up with an international partner.
“This is a new capability we have. And that’s what transformation is all about,” Watterson said. “And then we will make use of this as a normal course of business, we’ll add more gateways. A second partner. Third partner.”
Stay tuned …
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