It looks like Southwest Airlines is going to start flying to Iceland.
- They’ve partnered with Icelandair, and could sell seats on their own planes to Reykjavik, connecting passengers onto Icelandair flights into Europe.
- They can reach Iceland from a stronghold like Baltimore using their current Boeing 737 MAXs. These would not be a great passenger experience with no ovens in the galley, no first class, no seat back entertainment and inferior wifi. But it’s a similar distance to West Coast – Hawaii where passengers put up with the inflight product today.
This would allow Southwest’s passengers to redeem their points to Europe, also, which should help the co-brand credit card business. Money from card partner Chase was a big impetus for Hawaii flying as well.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said he wants to fly transatlantic from Nashville, too. And he’s talking up sprucing up the experience and offering a lounge, too.
Nashville loves us, and we know we have Nashville customers that want lounges. They want first class. They want to get to Europe and they’re going to Europe…I want to send fewer and fewer customers to another airline.
Iceland is a strong seasonal (summer) destination but also an efficient connection point for the rest of Europe. Southwest needs to pick cities where they’re strong, and that lack significant non-stop flights across the Pond – otherwise they’ll be at a huge disadvantage since their Europe offerings will be at a disadvantage having to connect in Iceland (and with a product that’s inferior to competitors). They’d be chasing the lowest yield revenue, and doing it in the off-season as well. Even with a fuel-efficient narrowbody aircraft that’s a recipe for losing money.
As Enilria points out on significant limitation of Southwest is that they’ve been unable to sell tickets in foreign currency, which means they’re limited to U.S. point of sale (“they are 100 years behind Pan Am on being able to accept foreign currencies”).
That didn’t work when they triend flying to Canada, but they can do alright selling Mexico vacation travel to Americans. Limiting themselves to traffic from the U.S. would harm their operation even further, although this could be the impetus that finally forces them to overcome the challenge.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan no longer commits to everything, having publicly promised this past fall that the airline would never charge for checked bags before being overruled by the new board installed by Elliott Management. So he also talks about possibly buying widebody aircraft in the future. Whatever the board tells him to do, I guess.
Show of hands please who is excited about flying a connecting flight via Iceland on a Southwest plane to get to Europe. Anyone? Hello?
I mean, I guess Iceland’s technically ‘Europe.’
@Jonathan — That’s a dope for me, dawg.
But can you combine the $500 southwest credit from the CSR for spending seventy-five thousand dollars with Points Boost!?
Speaking of PanAm and 100 years ago, at this point, why doesn’t Southwest simply use Gander as a refueling spot instead of connecting through Iceland? I’m sure that would be the premium experience that folks who spend $75k with Chase are clamoring for.
JetBlue is barely making Europe work with a real business class product and a good economy experience. Southwest has no chance – why connect through Iceland and not fly, I don’t know, literally any other carrier? It’s creative when Icelandair tries to do it I suppose (as many ‘stopover’ programs are). But these Southwest announcements just reek of desperation.
I think the answer to Jonathan’s question is, the same kind of people who use Iceland Air to connect to Europe already – people who don’t travel to Europe often, don’t care about comfort or convenience, and just book on price. So it might work for WN’s customers.
I flew Icelandair from the continental U.S. to Keflavik then onwards to Heathrow. It wasn’t bad because the arrival was a little later in the morning, which is better for hotel check-in. A non-stop from the continental U.S. to London might arrive at 7 am, way too early to check into the hotel.
On the reverse, I did a stopover in Iceland. A supermarket cashier said the total amount in English and did not even try to say the numbers in Icelandic. I responded with a Halló in Icelandic.
I would rather play truck tag than fly WN to Europe.
Hawaii flopped for SWA big time…..Have to wonder if this won’t be the same.
Oreo cookies and a big of pretzels attract a certain crowd. Not my thing and probably never will be.
Interesting, but how is SWA going to route enough “premium” connecting passengers to BNA for the “all-you-can-eat pretzels” overnight flight to KEF? The Nashville market alone can’t support 90% load factors at a decent margin for a daily 737 MAX service to Iceland year-round (regardless if connecting on FI to mainland Europe or not)…
Southwest to Europe? I don’t think so.
it is patently false that WN is incapable of selling tickets in foreign currencies. They switched to Amadeus years ago and can sell anything that Amadeus supports.
WN has done a poor job of marketing itself outside of the US and compounded that with the requirement to buy tickets only on southwest’s site.
That also no longer is the case.
WN has deep pockets and can buy their way into whatever market they want. They need to rethink alot but they certainly are capable of transforming themselves more than B6 or any of the ULCCs.
WN uses Amadeus’ passenger service software. Amadeus has airline clients the world over. I call BS on the currency situation unless WN cheaped out on the options they use from Amadeus. Even so, it should be easy enough for Amadeus to configure this for a huge client like WN.
@Tim Dunn – show me where southwest.com accepts payment in euros or currencies other than dollars?
europeans can go to delta’s website to buy tickets, but not to southwest’s.
the fact that an agency can now sell southwest’s tickets is beside the point. this is an issue to overcome before launching international. can it be done? sure. they haven’t done it yet.
Gary,
WN has no technical limitations on accepting foreign currencies; the fact that they don’t doesn’t mean they can’t.
When they ran on BN’s old system, they could not accept foreign currencies but that era has passed.
WN has alot of obstacles to overcome to grow into international markets but being able to sell in other currencies is not one of them.
and I still believe, and have said so, that the current round of product restructuring for WN is just the first step.
and those people that sneer at WN’s customer base haven’t flown much on other US airlines.
Let’s also remember that DL’s march to get a revenue premium took place over about a five to seven year period following its emergence from chapter 11. by the mid 2010s, DL was generating revenue premiums to the industry. UA’s turnaround was just as fast. Not saying that WN can transform itself that fast but it isn’t without precedent in the industry.
Does Iceland have alternate airports near Reykjavik in case one is needed in an emergency?
There are two airports in Iceland and another in Greenland for alternates.
Welp it looks like Iceland will be a new destination out of IAD in 2026 for United. They already fly it out of Chicago and Newark.
Gary – Even a major airline like Air Canada cannot accept USD when you make an award booking, you have to pay in CAD.
From the US site you get this lovely message:
Attention
You will be redirected to the Canadian edition of aircanada(dot)com as no local website edition is available for Aeroplan flight bookings based on the country/region of residence you selected.
If you choose to complete a booking:
Your ticket will be issued and billed in Aeroplan points and Canadian dollars.
A foreign merchant transaction fee may be charged by your credit card issuing bank at time of billing.
@askmrlee – what does an award booking have to do with anything?
@jns – Egilsstaðir primarily but also Akureyri
Why would anybody care.
It’s like watching Pan Am, TWA, Braniff, Eastern, Wien, Aloha, Midway, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. slowly fail all over again. And do we remember People Express?
Such phenomenally incompetent leadership at Southwest.
Enough said.
“I want to send fewer and fewer customers to another airline.”
Easily achieved. With higher fares and punitive changes, Southwest will have fewer and fewer customers to send!
Why doesn’t Southwest to team up with Ryan Air and do a joint venture airline across the Atlantic that feeds into both networks. Get some 787s and do it right, in a way that benefits both airlines and is competitive.
Akureyri Airport is considerably closer to Reykjavik and seems to have better facilities per the Wikipedia descriptions. I wonder if winter weather can at times close all three airports.
The idea of anything on Southwest to Europe sounds like mid evil torture
Just a big no for me dawg
As a former near 17 yr Southwest employee it is sad watching Southwest’s downward spiral. It is like watching Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burns. My wife in her 22nd yr with Southwest commented that on 5-28-25 the first day of bag fees being implemented that to her and many of her coworkers it was a somber day and a very eerie feeling knowing that whatever was left of Herb Kelleher’s Southwest is gone forever. The bag fees seem to be backfiring on Southwest as many customers instead of checking in their bags oversized , heavy or not bring them to the gate and if they do not fit in the overhead bin then they are gate checked free of charge. The Ops agents and Flight Attendants are getting overwhelmed by this and I can only imagine the injuries that these workers have or are going to get. Probably taking delays on some of these flights as well. If the right deal comes along Elliott will sell Southwest.
They couldn’t make Mexico City work. I hope they learned from that experiment about what it takes to actually sell outside of the US.
@Tim Dunn,
WN will eventually be merged into DL. Further consolidation in the industry is on the horizon. Combinations involving AA/UA/DL with AS/B6/WN are going to happen. WIth that, WN will have lounges, a premium feel, and Missoni inspired amenity kits, not to mention overcrowded lounges, to spoil its customers on 25 daily departures to Europe from the middle of America.
The ULCC approach between Europe and the US has failed multiple times. To fly to Europe Southwest we need the right plane, premium seats and meals. I just don’t see that happening. Maybe flying to Iceland but that’s about it.
@George N Romey — But-for the pandemic, Norwegian might have survived, and like a phoenix, Norse now uses their same literal aircraft. So, I’d say, they bucked the trend of ULCC ‘failure’ across the Atlantic. Likewise, Wow (now Play) and Icelandair are doing just fine for those seeking to pay next-to-nothing to be treated worse-than-trash for 6-8 hours across oceans.
Dan,
in reality, WN’s business plan fell apart post covid because of a surge in premium demand post-covid. They began to see signs of trouble before including with higher labor costs but they were still a viable airline from a financial standpoint before.
George,
I expect that WN will fly widebodies and offer a legacy-comparable experience if it really intends to become a longhaul international carrier. A few 737MAX flights can only do so much. WN sees where the revenue is for DL and UA and know the MAX won’t get theme there.
Lady,
I doubt if DL will buy WN as a whole until they are much smaller than they are and/or have gone through chapter 11 to cut costs. DL is a master at picking off revenue from weak airlines and that is what what they will continue to do in WN markets.
@Tim Dunn — Southwest ‘widebodies’… bah, you must be kidding. If WN did that, it would truly be a different airline (and with the ‘assigned’ seats, charging for bags, they’re already half-way there, just remove the ‘heart,’ too, and the transformation is complete!). One of SWA’s greatest strengths (other than the earlier fuel hedging in the 2000s) is their standardized equipment (all 737), reducing maintenance costs, pilot training, etc. (you know this already; mostly for anyone else following-along, if they even care.) Anyway, I would bet good money there’s no way they get new aircraft for this. What, like a 787? Fat chance.
@LadyOlives — I’ve been sayin… whether it’s a Northwest-style merger, or a Pan Am-style acquisition of assets, Southwest becoming part of Delta wouldn’t be too surprising, and would be huge for Delta in a few key regions, Texas, specifically, where DL is trying hard in Austin, but would then compete nicely with AA in Dallas and UA in Houston. Overall, it’d be a reduction in competition across the industry, but an increase in competition in particular markets. Interesting hypotheticals.
But will anybody going to Europe, beyond Iceland, want to make two connections??? If I’m flying from Chicago, I’m going nonstop or maybe I’ll tolerate a stop in New York, if the price is right or it’s my only option. But I’m not flying Chicago to Baltimore to Iceland to *insert any European city*.
1990
do you know that Delta generates more domestic RPMs on its own metal than any other airline including WN? AA and DL are similar sized in domestic revenue but AA uses a much larger number of regional jets than DL. DL combining with anyone else would be problematic.
I believe WN will pivot its business model further than where they have pointed themselves now but the transition, if it is successful, will be the most dramatic the industry has ever seen. Elliott’s kick in the pants might push WN where it should have gone 5 years earlier but I believe they can transition to become a 4th nationwide legacy.
I think the only thing more miserable than flying Southwest from the west coast to Hawaii would be flying Southwest from the east coast to Iceland.
Dont see why SW couldn’t fly PDX/SEA – KEF its ~7 hours and 80~85% over land unless the 737-900/800 don’t have the fuel range.
But they would be competing with Iceland air which often has sub-$500 RT sale fares (you have to buy your own food on the flight and that is as Basic-Econ no frills fare .
Last fall we flew PDX_KEF-CDG (with a 2.5 day layover in Iceland) Left PDX 3:30 PM (7~HR flight) arrived 10PM PDX time and 7AM local time arrived at our hotel in the city around 9:15~9:30 AM Radission (VIP Elite upgraded to JR suite) our room was ready at 9:45AM – took a shower then spent the day walking around exploring downtown Iceland. Booked a golden circle day tour – to visit the major tourist spots – finished day at Blue Lagoon. Flew out next day to CDG. Flew back home a month later same route no layover – day flight.
Iceland air flies 757 – 7 hours is slightly longer than MIA-PDX or HNL-PDX easy to do in C – no need for lay flats Biz on short day flights. KLM flies a similar afternoon flight PDX-AMS direct 9 Hrs and you arrive ~10AM AMS and can connect to pretty much most of EU with partners ( and award flights are as low as 40K RT and 50~60K RT to the farthest EU destinations – do able if your layover isn’t to long.
@Tim Dunn — On Southwest, sounds ‘great’ for the owners/investors (probably not-so-much for their former passengers, who got used to the priors ‘perks’).
As to ‘regionals,’ yeah, AA’s American Eagle brand has so many subsidiaries (Envoy, PSA, and Piedmont) and ‘partners’ like Republic and SkyWest. Meanwhile, Delta’s Connection brand just has ‘Endeavor.’ Anecdotally, I was a bit disappointed earlier this month when Endeavor had a mini-meltdown. Switched to American last-minute to recover. You win some, you lose some. Relatedly, saw that Endeavor’s CEO is stepping down (not sure if preplanned, or DL4819 got to him).
1990.
LUV’s former business model didn’t work. They couldn’t continue to give away stuff they can’t generate revenue for.
And I still think that a big part of their problems is Boeing’s inability to deliver the MAX 7. Their execs are now saying they might not even fly it in 2026. That is an incredible I believe 8 years after it was due.
If WN buys another model, they surely will look at Airbus.
Not sure what happened with Endeavor but I noticed it too.
The whole NE plus CLT is melting down (or boiling over) with afternoon thunderstorms today.
Throw in a little DFW and IAH for good measure.