Southwest Airlines may launch international flights from Baltimore

Southwest Airlines is mulling flights to Canada or Europe from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) sometime in the next few years, according to CEO Gary Kelly.

For 2019, the focus, however, will be on Hawaii.

Routes to Canada would depend heavily on traffic from Canadians, while routes to Europe would rely on codeshare agreements with other airlines.

Southwest plans to set up foreign currency and foreign language capabilities, as well as technologies to enable codeshares within the next five years, according to Kelly, as it would be needed for the expansion of its international flights.

In total, the airline is eying up to 50 additional North and South American routes.