Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) has applied for a new certificate of public convenience and necessity covering all countries with which the United States has an open skies agreement, signalling plans to broaden its international network.

The LCC did not disclose any specific destinations it was targeting or when such flights could be launched. It told ch-aviation that the application was "not necessarily indicative of anything forthcoming."

"We’ve been an international carrier for a decade plus - this helps with our existing international franchise - and we’re taking advantage of the DOT’s streamlined regulatory procedures for international authority," a spokesperson said.

The US currently has open-skies agreements with 138 countries and territories. The exact terms of those agreements differ, but in principle, they permit duly certified US carriers to launch an unrestricted number of flights from any US airport with appropriate border facilities to those countries and territories.

The ch-aviation capacities module shows that Southwest operated predominantly domestically in the US, with just 2.2% of its total weekly scheduled capacity deployed internationally. Its international network comprises destinations in ten Central American and Caribbean countries and territories, but more than half of the entire international capacity is to/from Mexico.