The first-ever scheduled international flights flown by Southwest Airlines took off earlier heading to the Caribbean, also marking the successful full implementation of Amadeus’ Altéa Suite, the next generation passenger services system for airlines.

“We have realised our vision of flying internationally, and this success is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and expertise of the combined Southwest and Amadeus teams,” said Randy Sloan, Southwest Airlines senior vice president and chief information officer.

“Amadeus has been a tremendous IT partner, and we look forward to our continued collaboration with Amadeus as we expand this technology to serve our domestic needs in the future.”

Southwest began selling seats on its inaugural international flights in January using the Altéa Reservation and Inventory modules. 

The first flight departed from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, for Aruba today at 08:30 EDT, with customer management powered by Altéa Departure Control.

This marks the culmination of two years of behind-the-scenes IT collaboration and systems re-engineering by the Southwest and Amadeus teams.

“We are extremely pleased that our next generation technology has today enabled Southwest to achieve its vision and strategy of international flying.

“We are wholly committed to helping all of our customers deliver the products and services that connect, serve and manage the evolving needs of the 21st Century traveller.

The implementation of the full Altéa Suite has been a global effort, as the execution and ongoing support of Southwest is being served from around the world and around the clock by Amadeus employees in Dallas, Boston, Miami, Sydney, Bangkok, London, Nice (France) and Erding (Germany).

The commencement of international flying by Southwest follows the announcement in May that Southwest and Amadeus entered into a joint contract for Amadeus’ Altéa Suite to support the carrier’s U.S. domestic flying as well.

Over the next few years, Southwest and Amadeus will work together to move the carrier fully to the Amadeus Altéa platform for both international and domestic flying.

Amadeus currently provides Altéa technology and services to more than 120 airlines around the world.