Southwest is eyeing a host of expansion opportunities within the next 25 years, with as many as 50 additional North and South American route expansions under consideration, Kelly told shareholders.

with as many as 50 additional North and South American route expansions under consideration

He specifically said Canada would be done with codeshare, so we can axe that off the list...

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport could become a hub for Southwest Airlines flights to Canada or Europe in a few years' time, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said Wednesday. Kelly said BWI, the second largest hub in Southwest's system, "would be a logical consideration for us as a connecting point to Europe." He also said flights to Canada from Baltimore "would absolutely be something we would be interested in considering." Kelly was in Annapolis Wednesday for Southwest's annual shareholders' meeting, held at the Governor Calvert House on State Circle to mark the airline's 25 years of service out of BWI. Though the company is mulling flights to Canada and Europe, he told shareholders its immediate priority is new service to and from Hawaii, which is expected to launch late this year or early next year. "Our focus this year is on boosting service through our domestic route system," Kelly said. "Hawaii expansion will be the major focus for Southwest in 2019, as far as fleet is concerned." Though Dallas-based Southwest (NYSE: LUV) has added international flights to destinations like Cancun, Mexico, San Jose, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, Kelly said flights to Canada and Europe are more complicated for the airline. The "vast majority" of people flying to Southwest's existing international destinations are Americans going on vacation, he said, but for service to Canada to be successful, flights would depend much more heavily on Canadian traffic. Kelly said the target would be for about half of passengers to come from Canada, which would mean marketing to Canadian residents. Flights to Europe would likely be launched through code-sharing agreements with other airline carriers, he said. To do that, "we need foreign currency, foreign language, then there are other technologies that will likely need to support connecting with other airlines," Kelly said, "but that is also something I hope to undertake within the next five years." Southwest is eyeing a host of expansion opportunities within the next 25 years, with as many as 50 additional North and South American route expansions under consideration, Kelly told shareholders.