ATW Daily News

Southwest sticking close to home for now

Thursday September 17, 2009

Southwest Airlines yesterday moved to clarify its international future, stressing that it "does not have any plans to fly distant, long-haul international flights at this time or in the near future."

At this week's World Route Development Forum in Beijing, Director-Network Strategic Planning Lee Lipton told ATWOnline that the long-haul, low-cost model employed by airlines such as AirAsia X "could become a trend" among LCCs in the future and that Southwest was "evaluating our options" in that regard (ATWOnline, Sept. 16).

Yesterday the airline confirmed that any such venture likely is a long way off. "Our immediate focus is on developing our previously announced codeshare partnerships with WestJet and Volaris, and we have expressed interest in exploring near international markets, including Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, with our own fleet," a spokesperson told this website. "While we can't rule out the possibility in the future, we are not actively considering service to distant international markets with our own aircraft."

Three months ago, SWA said its partnership with WestJet will be delayed until late 2010 as it focuses on "near-term revenue opportunities" (ATWOnline, June 15).

In remarks prepared for delivery in Beijing, Lipton wrote that SWA and other LCCs "have only just started to make our mark on world travel" and that the nascent trend "has been confined to individual regions." He predicted that "the time is approaching when those regions will be connected by low-cost carriers providing long-haul services, complemented by airline partnerships that extend the geography of individual carriers beyond their home markets."

He wrote that as the industry evolves, LCCs will be "changing their ways or developing outside the traditional view of what a low-cost carrier should look like." He said that rather than "a sign that the low-cost carrier model has run its course," a move toward "extending the geographic reach and expanding diversity of our business model is really a sign of strength."

by Brian Straus

Other headlines: