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How Southwest Airlines Is Finally Making Flights to Europe a Reality

Southwest customers can now book onward connections to Europe from Baltimore with its partner airline Icelandair

by Fergus Cole

January 22, 2025

Photo: Courtesy of Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is set to start selling flights to Europe next month as it begins its commercial partnership with Icelandair.

The low-cost carrier based in Dallas initially entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Icelandic airline in September 2024. They officially signed a strategic partnership on January 15, which will enable the American carrier to expand its reach to Europe through its Icelandic partner.

Baltimore Goes First

Starting in February, this collaboration will be activated, with Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) being the first North American gateway for both airlines.

Travelers flying with Southwest from BWI will have the opportunity to connect seamlessly to Icelandair flights heading to Reykjavik International Airport (KEF). From there, they will have access to 34 destinations throughout Europe.

Photo: Courtesy of Icelandair

Icelandair’s extensive network covers some of Europe’s most popular destinations, including both London Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW), Paris (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), Rome (FCO), Berlin (BER), Lisbon (LIS), and Dublin (DUB).

Southwest passengers will also be able to make use of Icelandair’s connections to some more off-the-beaten-track destinations, including four locations in Greenland and four other airports in Iceland itself.

Under the new partnership, travelers can book a Southwest flight to Baltimore and then a connecting Icelandair flight to Reykjavik and beyond, all under one booking. They will also be able to check their luggage all the way through from the beginning to the end of their journey, despite technically traveling with two airlines.

Nashville and Denver Up Next

Initially launching with Baltimore as the sole North American gateway, connections from Nashville (BNA) and Denver (DEN) will soon be added to the joint network.

In addition to Icelandair’s numerous connections on offer, Southwest passengers will be able to make use of the Stopover in Iceland scheme, which allows travelers on a layover to spend up to seven days in Iceland at no additional airfare.

Photo: Courtesy of Southwest Airlines / Stephen M. Keller

“It’s fitting for us to launch this chapter of industry-standard airline partnerships with our longtime friends, Icelandair,” said Ryan Green, Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at Southwest Airlines.

“Beyond an ability to offer each other’s Customers access to new destinations and like-minded travel experiences centered around hospitality and value, we’re grateful to have been guided by their expertise and best practices in building our program.”

Tómas Ingason, Chief Commercial Officer of Icelandair, added: “We are very excited to have formalized our partnership with Southwest and honored to be chosen as Southwest’s first airline partner.

Photo: Courtesy of Icelandair

“The partnership will open new and exciting connections for our customers onwards with Southwest to numerous destinations in North America, and at the same time, their customers will benefit from our extensive connections to Iceland and Europe.

“We welcome Southwest to our strong partnership portfolio in the U.S. and ever-growing group of partner airlines and look forward to working together in offering our customers smooth and enjoyable travel experiences.”