Southwest Airlines Deepens Asia Reach with New Partnership with South Korea's Air Premia
Southwest Airlines has added South Korea's Air Premia as its latest international partner, continuing a rapid introduction of interline agreements intended to give the US carrier a broader global reach without launching its own long-haul service. The agreement connects Air Premia's transpacific network with Southwest's domestic network through Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Tickets are available through Air Premia, travel agents and travel websites. Air Premia, based at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, operates Boeing 787-9 aircraft on several routes. The airline serves US destinations including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and Washington, D.C., along with destinations in Asia. The deal gives Southwest another partner in Asia in a portfolio that has grown quickly since the airline launched its first international partnership with Icelandair in February 2025. Southwest now lists nine airline partners: Icelandair, China Airlines, EVA Air, Philippine Airlines, Condor, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines and Air Premia. The strategy affods Southwest customers more options beyond the carrier's own network, while also giving foreign airlines access to Southwest's large domestic footprint. It also marks a clear shift for an airline long known for a mostly point-to-point US domestic model and a limited international network focused on short-haul leisure destinations. Southwest described the Air Premia agreement as part of its broader effort to expand international airline partnerships from "all parts of the globe." The airline has used those agreements to build connections into Europe, Asia and other long-haul markets through shared gateway airports. "Similar to Southwest, Air Premia works to pair value and comfort with high-quality service for everyone onboard," Andrew Watterson, Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer, said. "Air Premia becomes our latest partner in a portfolio that not only provides more potential global travel options for Southwest Customers, it also exposes more marketplaces overseas to our unmatched network in the United States and our world-famous Hospitality." Air Premia said the partnership gives its passengers access to more than 120 destinations across Southwest's network on a single ticket. The airline said the connections will help travelers from South Korea reach US cities with limited or no nonstop service from Korea, including Las Vegas, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Denver, Portland and Nashville. The partnership also reflects Southwest's broader business transformation. In its 2025 results, the airline listed six strategic partnerships among several major initiatives, along with assigned seating, extra-legroom seating, changes to its fare products, online distribution expansion and other revenue-focused changes.