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, setting the stage for Southwest to officially sign an interline agreement with Icelandair at a ceremony in nearby Washington on Wednesday.
TPG was present when executives signed an agreement cementing the alliance between the two carriers, which will finally allow Southwest loyalists to cash in. instant rewards Points on flights to Iceland, Europe and beyond.
The ceremony, held inside the residence of the Icelandic Ambassador to the United States, represented the first concrete steps in that direction by Southwest. series of massive changes The Dallas-based carrier was formed last year. That change will eventually bring the first Fixed and extra legroom seats For Southwest’s Boeing 737s.
First, however, it has to connect with Icelandair.
“Interline partnerships are very common in the airline industry. But this is our first, so it’s very exciting for us,” Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said moments before the two carriers made their partnership official.
A soft start to the partnership
As TPG reported in SeptemberThe Southwest-IcelandAir alliance will be more limited than before.
From February, passengers will be able to book itineraries with seamless connections between the two carriers through Icelandair’s website.
From the start, the partnership will focus on just one gateway on the U.S. side: Southwest’s Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) base.
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However, the carrier plans to soon expand the setup to Denver International Airport (DEN) and Nashville International Airport (BNA), Southwest officials revealed Wednesday.
“We’ll continue to do it in phases,” Ryan Green, the Southwest executive who oversaw the airline’s wholesale changes announced last year, told TPG on Wednesday.
Deeper relations will begin next year
The two airlines are expected to grow their relationship in 2026 after Southwest launches assigned seats; It didn’t make sense to develop its own technological systems to facilitate partnerships in its open seating era and then develop its own technological systems after the move to assigned seats, Green said.
However, once assigned seating goes live, Southwest plans to begin selling Icelandair seats through its booking channels. At that time, customers will 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 will continue to move forward like this.”
pomp and circumstance
The formal launch of this partnership in DC was full of pomp and circumstance.
The leaders of Southwest and Icelandair exchanged gifts. The Reykjavik-based carrier introduced a chunk of molten rock from a freshly formed lava field in Iceland. Southwest came up with a decorative version of its signature symbol.
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Shawn Cudahy/The Points Guy
Then, the leaders of both carriers raised glasses for a toast (“Scale!”) of Brennivin, Iceland’s national drink.
“This will be a wonderful partnership,” Swanhildur Holm Valsdóttir, Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S., said during the celebration.
Southwest is competing for global reach
Southwest plans to announce at least one additional international airline partner in 2025, executives reiterated Wednesday. Additionally, the carrier hopes its growing list of partners will give Rapid Rewards members more destinations to choose from.
“We are in talks with both additional transatlantic carriers as well as transpacific carriers,” Green acknowledged. “Ultimately, it is about giving customers choice, increasing the reach and breadth of the Southwest Airlines brand beyond the reach of the 737.”
Of course, not long ago, none of this would have been possible.
In recent years, the airline has spent cash modernizing its notoriously aging tech infrastructure – an investment that means everything from preventing another holiday to 2022-esque meltdown To pave the way for changes like South-West First RedEye flights next monthNot to mention, of course, allowing Southwest to launch its most global endeavor to date – a collaboration with an international partner that was once difficult to imagine.
“This is a new capability that we have. And that’s the change,” Watterson said. “And then we’ll use it as the normal course of business, we’ll add more gateways. A second partner. A third partner.”
Stay tuned…
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