Dallas Business Journal -


Southwest Airlines Co. is signaling potential trouble with the airline’s code share agreement with Canadian-based carrier WestJet.

The Dallas-based airline said Friday that WestJet could be entering into a codeshare agreement with another U.S.-based carrier, Delta Air Lines. Southwest said it also learned that Delta may be transfering slots at New York’s LaGuardia to WestJet.

Southwest indicated that a WestJet-Delta deal would be inconsistent with the arrangement that WestJet struck with Southwest.

"The Southwest-WestJet project was on target in accordance with a mutually agreed upon timetable," said Bob Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president of strategy and planning. "However, WestJet in recent weeks requested material and significant changes to our agreement that we could not accept. We are, and always have been, prepared to move forward to implement our agreement with WestJet. We have not yet been notified of WestJet's intent to terminate that agreement."

Southwest, one of America’s top domestic carriers, does not fly internationally. The airline has said it considers its codeshare agreement with WestJet to be a step toward offering international flights.