Southwest Airlines is planning to offer international flights from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport through a partnership with another airline.
Southwest would offer the flights through ATA Airlines, spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said Tuesday. Southwest and ATA already have a deal where they sell seats for connecting flights on the other carrier.
The venture would be Southwest’s first entrance into the international market.
“In our 36-year history, we’ve focused on domestic flights, and we’re a profitable airline so it’s worked out well for us,” Eichinger said. “I think international flights are an option for additional revenue that all airlines are looking for right now.”
A great deal of technological infrastructure would have to be put in place before the flights could begin, Eichinger said. The Dallas-based airline’s goals would be to start flying to closer destinations such as Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean by 2009, and explore other locations such as Europe in 2010.
Southwest eyed BWI because it is the carrier’s fourth-busiest operation and is close to the East Coast, Eichinger said.
BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean said the airport would be a “great launchpad as Southwest continues to evolve.”
“BWI is the airline’s largest East Coast gateway, so it would be a good fit,” Dean said. The airline operates 178 daily flights out of BWI.
The move would expand BWI’s international offerings as well. The airport now serves 13 foreign cities with the addition this year of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
