Southwest and Volaris end partnership

Southwest Airlines and Volaris will end their connecting partnership from 22 February.

Passengers were able to connect between certain Southwest domestic flights in the USA and certain Volaris flights to Mexico at designated connection airports, which included Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Oakland. The partnership was launched in late 2010 as a way to expand the former's solely domestic network into Mexico.
 
Dallas-based Southwest says that the carrier's mutually agreed to end the relationship. Volaris did not respond to inquiries.

Expansion by Southwest-subsidiary AirTran Airways on routes to Mexico could have contributed to the end of the partnership. Southwest bought the carrier in September 2010 citing, among other things, its existing Caribbean and Latin America network as a reason for the merger.

AirTran flies to Cancun, Los Cabos and Mexico City from various US cities, and continues to grow in Mexico. It will begin new flights between Denver and Los Cabos on 10 March, and between Austin and Los Cabos on 2 June.

Volaris flies to Chicago Midway, Denver, Fresno, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orlando, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose (California) in the USA.

 

(Edward Russell - Flightglobal News)