When will Southwest tap Las Vegas for international flights?

Southwest Airlines took a huge step in its international flights initiative with the recent opening of a five-gate, $146 million terminal at Houston's Hobby Airport.

But you could almost hear the gears turning in Las Vegas while that was happening: Why not Las Vegas for international flights on Southwest?

It seems like a natural for the airline that carries more passengers than any other to and from McCarran International Airport — more than 17 million in 2014.

Las Vegas consistently ranks as one of Southwest's busiest stations. It's No. 2 behind Chicago's Midway International Airport with more than 205 flights a day.

The Las Vegas marketing machine run by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is in full international mode with a goal of delivering 30 percent of the city's 42 million visitors from foreign countries within five years. It seems like it would be a natural for Southwest to climb onto that marketing wave, not that the airline needs much help marketing itself.

McCarran has positioned itself as the nation's fastest-growing international port of entry in the past two years. The growth is so pronounced that the Clark County Department of Aviation in August announced that it plans to convert seven gates in the D concourse to serve international arrivals.

Airport officials are building a $51 million tunnel to connect those gates directly to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection passenger arrival facility. McCarran already has seven international gates in the 14-gate Terminal 3 concourse.

The good news for Las Vegas is that it isn't a matter of if it will get international flights on Southwest — it's when.

When Houston joined the Southwest international club earlier this month, it became the 12th U.S. destination to take flights from outside U.S. borders. Other cities that have Southwest's international arrivals are Baltimore; Orange County, Calif.; Atlanta; Chicago's Midway International Airport; Denver; Milwaukee; Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Austin and San Antonio, Texas.

But Houston is envisioned as a big difference-maker for Southwest because it's centrally located to reach anywhere in Mexico or Central America where Southwest is making its biggest push.

Entering the game

Southwest got started in the international game when it announced it was acquiring AirTran in 2010. The merger wasn't fully completed until the end of last year.

AirTran had an extensive network in the Caribbean and a few destinations in Mexico. Southwest took advantage of the transaction and now has Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and Cancun in Mexico; Nassau, Bahamas; Montego Bay, Jamaica; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Aruba on its route map.

When Hobby's new international terminal opened Oct. 8, Belize City, Belize, was added to the list, and Liberia, Costa Rica, gets added in early November.

It took time for Southwest to convert the AirTran routes to Southwest, which included tweaks to the website to allow customers to convert foreign currency. The airline has its own online infrastructure, so everything was done by its own technology professionals.

With much of the infrastructure in place, Southwest made the move to start its foreign invasion — an invasion that, by most standards, was more of a trickle than a flood.

Comparatively speaking, Southwest's international reach is minuscule. Only 2% of its operations will be international when Southwest completes its initial push.

But that doesn't stop the enthusiasm the Las Vegas tourism industry has for Southwest's entry.

"We have been in discussion (with Southwest) for several years about just this," said Brig Lawson, director of business partnerships with the Convention and Visitors Authority.

"For us, Mexico City is very interesting," he said. "It has a huge population base, larger than some of the Asian cities we've been targeting."

Aeromexico, Volaris and Interjet already offer nonstop flights between two Mexico City airports and Las Vegas. But having a powerful U.S. carrier in the mix is likely to generate even more interest among Mexican travelers, especially if fare wars ensue.

"To us, competition is a good thing because it usually keeps fares affordable," Lawson said. "With more rooms coming on the Strip, we're looking everywhere for new service."

The only thing holding up international service in Las Vegas on Southwest is Southwest. And that's because the airline has so many opportunities on its plate that it has to evaluate which one makes the most sense to do first.

At the opening of the Hobby terminal, Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said the airline is in the midst of evaluating how it can best optimize its route system once it takes delivery of more aircraft. Kelly said the airline is anticipating taking delivery of between 15 and 20 new planes next year. And where will those planes be used? That's the beauty of being in Southwest's position — it can wait to see how the international market pans out and decide whether to add flights there or to do more domestically.

On the lookout

Kelly has said there are 50 destinations in North America that Southwest has been scouting. The airline has long been rumored to be looking at serving the nation's southwestern most destination — Hawaii. Kelly has hinted at more destinations in Mexico and Central America, and he has even hinted about looking north of the border into Canada.

At the same time, the airline is evaluating its domestic opportunities, linking some cities it has never connected with nonstop flights and looking at new domestic cities to serve.

"It's a great problem to have," said Kelly, who added that Southwest is in no hurry to tip its hand and give competitors an idea of what they're up to.

Andrew Watterson, senior vice president of network and revenue management for Southwest, said the airline also is going to keep a close watch on how existing markets south of the border do before committing to where to connect in the United States.

"As we get more operational experience outside the United States, we'll look more at the inbound traffic," Watterson said in Houston. "As we develop this strength outside of the United States promotionally, we'll be looking for places with great inbound traffic, and Las Vegas looms very high as far as inbound traffic. So then, it becomes a question of not if we serve Las Vegas internationally, but when."

All indications point to there being no changes next year, but possible movement in 2017. And Watterson isn't worried about any logistical issues in Las Vegas. In Houston, for example, Southwest officials noted that international flights would arrive at the new terminal to move passengers to Customs and Border Protection facilities on the ground floor of the building, but departures could leave from any gate, international or domestic. The same scenario could occur at McCarran.

"We find the Las Vegas airport to be very well run and have first-rate facilities," Watterson said. "There's no concern on our side about the infrastructure of Las Vegas. It's a question of when we feel we have the brand and strengths outside the United States to say, 'Hey, fly to Las Vegas and fly Southwest Airlines.' That's the key hurdle."