Southwest Airlines seems to take the ‘south’ in its name seriously and doesn’t fly north to Canada, but why? This is extra strange given that in so many industries, the US and Canadian market is treated as a single “North American” market. In 2022, JetBlue started to fly to Canada for the first time, meaning that five of America’s top six airlines fly to Canada – even the train company Amtrax goes to Canada, but why doesn’t Southwest?
Southwest does fly international
Southwest is one of the four largest American carriers. Founded in 1967, it has had many decades to fly north, and yet it still doesn’t. Southwest is considered a hybrid carrier – a mix of low-carrier and full-carrier (e.g., it still offers free checked baggage). Southwest boasts scheduled services to over 100 US destinations. While it is a far cry from the far-ends-of-the-earth international airlines that United and Delta are, it does have scheduled services to multiple international countries.
Photo: Felipe I Santiago | Shutterstock
Southwest flies to 42 states along with the US territory of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, and some destinations in the Caribbean. Its international destinations are leisure destinations – it even flies to Cuba (where the State Department typically forbids US citizens from visiting) but not Canada.
Southwest even flies to the British Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean (that Canada has been talking about annexing for the last century – similar to how the US took over the Danish (now US) Virgin Islands).
Southwest International destinations:
Mexico: Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta Central America: Belize, Costa Rica (Liberia), Costa Rica (San Jose) The Caribbean: Aruba, Grand Cayman, Cuba (Havana), Jamaica (Montego Bay), Bahamas (Nassau), Dominican Republic (Punta Cana), Turks and Caicos
What is immediately apparent is that all these international destinations are leisure travel destinations. But Canada also has many leisure destinations (who doesn’t want to visit the Canadian Rockies?). Flights in Canada are also quite expensive, meaning that Canadians are accustomed to paying higher prices for flights.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Southwest has a business model that is distinct from other US airlines. It has a rolling hub and point-to-point network and relies exclusively on a fleet of Boeing 737 jets. While Boeing 737s lack the range for far-off international flights, they are more than capable of reaching most of Canada’s destinations.
They involve 318 routes, 20 airports in Canada, and 58 in the US.
It’s the Canadian Dollar
According to Business Insider, Southwest explained in 2021 that the reason for not serving Canada is rather surprising – its technological in nature. Canadians purchasing Southwest tickets for Canadian flights would have to purchase them in Canadian dollars – but the Southwest system isn’t set up to handle Canadian dollars.
“So, to make Canada work for us, that’s both the business and leisure market, we’ve got to be able to sell. Again, it’s back to the whole foreign currency for point of sale that we’ve been talking about for a long time.” – Tom Nealon, Southwest President (reported by
Business Insider
)
This may seem like a strange problem—and indeed it is—after all, almost all large airlines need to deal with multiple currencies. This is also not an insurmountable problem for Southwest—it’s just not a priority.
Another issue is that Southwest lacks airline partners to provide the service on its behalf. In 2010, CBS News reported that Canadian Calgary-based WestJet backed out of a 2008 deal that would have flown internationally between the United States and Canada. Both airlines would have sold seats on each other’s flights.
Photo: Southwest Airlines
Southwest does fly to border cities like Buffalo (NY), Detroit (MI), and Bellingham (WA), which attract Canadian passengers from just across the border. There is every chance that Southwest will eventually start servicing Canada. In 2021, CEO Gary Kelly stated that Southwest had identified “5, 6, 7 really nice markets.”
IATA/ICAO Code WN/SWA
Hub(s) Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport , Dallas Love Field , Denver International Airport , Harry Reid International Airport , Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport , Houston Hobby Airport , Los Angeles International Airport , Midway International Airport , Oakland International Airport , Orlando International Airport , Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Year Founded 1967
Country United States
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The plan also includes partnerships with international airlines, starting with Icelandair.
Canada has a large aviation market
While the Canadian aviation market is not nearly as large as the United States, it is still large and lucrative. Distances in Canada are frequently vast, so flying is a primary way to keep the country together. In 2022, there were 1,444 air carriers operating in Canada (according to the Canadian government), of which 40% were Canadian and 60% were foreign. The value of Canada’s flight market is expected to be around $11 billion in 2024.
2023 Air passenger traffic at Canadian airports (per Statistics Canada)
Domestic sector:
86,047,292
Transborder sector:
28,651,629
Other International sector:
36,006,662
Total, passengers enplaned and deplaned
150,705,583
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The five main Canadian airlines in 2022 (as reported by the Canadian government) were Air Canada, WestJet, Porter Airlines, Air Transat, and Sunwing Airlines (WestJet subsequently acquired Sunwing Airlines). Air Canada (including Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge) had a 51% share of available seat kilometers in the domestic air market. WestJet followed with a 29% share.
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Publish date : 2024-10-08 14:02:00
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