Southwest Airlines mulls more int’l service

Volaris differs from WestJet — and Southwest — in some ways, including its fleet, which consists entirely of Airbus jets. But it is also a low-cost carrier that hopes to capitalize on consolidation taking place in the Mexican airline industry.

Kelly said the deal opens up attractive Mexican destinations to Southwest customers. Volaris flies to 23 cities in Mexico, from border cities to beach resorts including Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.

With deals done for Canada and Mexico, Southwest will turn now to finding partners to serve Hawaii and the Caribbean.

Sweet and Kelly declined to discuss potential partners, but industry experts all have their own favorites.

At the top of the list for several was Hawaiian Airlines Inc., to replace service lost when ATA went under.

“Hawaiian would be the obvious choice for Southwest,” said Robert Mann, an independent airline consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. “In the absence of Aloha” — which failed this year — “it’s the dominant carrier in the islands.”

Mann said Southwest could team with AirTran or Spirit Airlines to sell seats to the Caribbean, although Spirit “is even more bare-bones of an operation than Southwest by a long stretch.”

Whoever it picks, Mann said, partners will insist that Southwest begin assigning passengers to seats to match the practice of other airlines. Southwest considered such a move last year but stuck with its open-seating plan in which those who check in first get the best seats.

George Hamlin, managing director of ACA Associates, an aviation consulting firm in Northern Virginia, said Alaska Airlines could open up flights to Hawaii and Mexico.

Some analysts said Southwest and WestJet could be the start of an alliance among low-cost carriers in the Western hemisphere, perhaps including a low-cost South American carrier such as Brazil’s Gol.

“It’s exciting that the LCC (low-cost carrier) sector finally is thinking about international service,” said William Swelbar, a former director at Hawaiian who now runs an airline data project at MIT. “WestJet is the first step. We’ll see fares to Canada come down … that’s always good for consumers.”

Kelly has said Southwest wants to sell seats to Europe after 2010. Analysts said Irish discount carrier Ryanair and its U.K. rival, EasyJet, are logical partners.

But not everyone thinks Southwest will find a partner to fly its budget-conscious customers across the Atlantic.

“The last thing an international carrier wants is low-fare trash in the back of the plane,” said Mike Boyd, an airline consultant in Colorado. “And Southwest doesn’t need Europe.”

Southwest officials are not ruling out doing some international flying with their own jets instead of relying on partners. But code-sharing is simpler — an important factor for Southwest, which likes simplicity, right down to offering only one kind of snack, peanuts.

“Partners provide branding and marketing on the other end,” Southwest’s Sweet said of code-sharing. “You learn about the market. It’s a lot easier.”