Southwest Airlines, which serves Bradley International Airport, may be looking soon for a new partner to provide service to Canada, The Associated Press reports.
Southwest has planned for more than a year to sell travel to Canada on board flights operated by Canada’s WestJet.
But Canadian media reports indicate that WestJet is talking about a similar deal with Delta, which would transfer a few takeoff and landing slots at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to the Canadian carrier.
Southwest’s executive vice president of planning, Bob Jordan, said Thursday that a WestJet-Delta deal could conflict with the Southwest-WestJet partnership. Jordan also said WestJet has made unacceptable demands of Southwest, which he didn’t describe.
If the two can’t work out their differences, Jordan said, Southwest will look for other ways to offer customers flights to Canada.
WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer said the Calgary-based airline “continues to have a strong relationship with Southwest and an agreement in place.” He declined to elaborate. Delta Air Lines Inc. declined to comment.
Dallas-based Southwest carries more U.S. passengers than any other airline, but it doesn’t fly to other countries. In July 2008, CEO Gary Kelly announced that in “a big step,” the carrier would add service to Canada through a deal with WestJet.
