Southwest Airlines plans to return to all international destinations by early next year

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly says the Dallas-based carrier plans to be flying to all of its international destinations by early 2021.

In a video posted to Twitter, Kelly said Southwest is making plans to go back to more international destinations this fall and eventually to all 15 in Central America and the Caribbean by early next year.

However, much of that will depend on travel restrictions in those countries and demand from customers to travel to mostly leisure destinations, he said.

“We know these are important destinations for our customers and we’re working diligently to resume service when it is safe and meets the needs of our business,” Kelly said. “And our hope is to resume service to all of our previously served international destinations by early 2021.”

Southwest had been mostly closed to international flying since late March, when many foreign countries enacted travel restrictions and demand dried up.

International flying is still expected to recover slower than domestic travel, but some experts think there is higher demand for leisure spots within the western hemisphere.

Southwest was finally able to relaunch international service to four destinations on July 1, including Cancun and Los Cabos in Mexico, Montego Bay in Jamaica and Nassau, Bahamas.

But there have been hiccups, too. Southwest had hoped to resume flights to Havana, Cuba, from Florida on July 1, but had to hold off because of travel restrictions in Cuba to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It now hopes to restart that route Aug. 1, Kelly said.

Southwest has been aggressively ramping up schedules in the United States for the summer months. But flying internationally still poses problems for customers over uncertain travel restrictions.

And Southwest only has plans to return to international destinations if it makes sense financially, Kelly said.

“We want to ensure any route we resume will help us reduce our overall cash burn,” Kelly said. “And our commercial teams have contingencies in place, if local conditions aren’t conducive or the demand isn’t there.”

So far, it’s unclear how much international demand there will be, especially as summer turns into fall.

“And many of our international destinations have a higher demand during specific times of the year,” he said.

There are still restrictions on U.S. passengers traveling to foreign countries, such as Mexico. Land crossings are restricted to only “essential” travelers and the U.S. and Mexican embassies specifically say that tourism is not considered essential. That restriction is set to run through at least July 21.

Southwest Airlines doesn’t fly any international routes from Dallas, but does plan to start adding international flights from Phoenix on Oct. 8 serving Los Cabos, Mexico.