Southwest Airlines plans to launch an interline partnership with Taiwanese carrier China Airlines, confirming speculation that it would seek to collaborate with a transpacific operator with a strong presence on the West Coast of the USA.
The Dallas-headquartered carrier said on 2 June that it is exploring with China Airlines a partnership that would launch early next year, with conversations coming to a head at IATA’s annual general meeting in Delhi.
Andrew Watterson, Southwest’s chief operating officer, says that “initial work” completed with China Airlines at the AGM will enable “seamless transpacific journeys across the Southwest network”.
”As the largest carrier of domestic passengers in the United States, we also carry more people to, from and within California than any other airline,” he says.
Watterson expects that Southwest passengers would “benefit immediately from having access to connections overseas”.
From the perspective of China Airlines, president Kevin Chen says that the carrier has always planned to expand its long-haul network deeper into the USA, including to the Midwest and “toward the East Coast”.
Southwest is attending its first-ever AGM as an IATA member as it has recently signalled intentions to expand beyond its historically domestic- and near-international network.
Last year, the carrier identified its first international partner as Icelandair, setting the stage for the airlines to collaborate on flowing US domestic traffic to Reykjavik – and to European cities beyond – via connections in Baltimore, Denver and Nashville.
Partnering with a transpacific carrier appeared to be the logical next step.
Notably, Southwest recently received approval from the US Department of Transportation to fly to all countries with which the USA shares “Open Skies” agreements, suggesting that it is exploring an international expansion.
Southwest will likely announce additional airline partnerships in coming months.
