Southwest Airlines has named Taiwan’s Eva Air as its latest international airline partner, representing the second relationship with a Taiwanese carrier it has announced this year.
After long focusing resisting international partnerships, Southwest has in recent months launched mutually beneficial agreements with Icelandair as well as Taiwanese carrier China Airlines.
Eva, a Star Alliance carrier, specialises in long-haul flights to North America, Europe and across the Asian continent.
The Evergreen Group subsidiary will collaborate with Southwest on flights between the “shared gateways” of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago.
”Interline journeys that pair Southwest-operated service over North America with connecting transpacific flights operated by Eva Air are now available for sale through Eva Air booking channels and third-party travel sites,” Southwest says.
The Dallas-based carrier also plans to launch in April flights to St Maarten, Southwest’s first new international destination since 2021.
Southwest has been undergoing a difficult period of change as it transitions to an assigned seating system and embraces baggage fees.
Those major strategic shifts have come along with sweeping operational changes intended to reverse years of poor financial performances and boost its competitiveness with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
Iniatives pursued by Southwest have included cutting turnaround times at terminal gates, new “red eye” overnight flights, and selling and leasing back aircraft in the manner of low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
The airline still turned a $213 million profit in the second quarter, though that figure slipped 42% year on year. Southwest’s second-quarter revenue crept up 1% year-on-year to $7 billion
