Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) is assessing 50 possible destinations outside the continental United States for their market potential airline CEO, Gary Kelly, told the Globe & Mail newspaper this week.

While he did not allude to which exact destinations were being studied, Kelly did note that the range of the airline's B737-800 fleet would allow it to expand into Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, Central America and the northern part of South America.

“Those are all within the performance capabilities of the 737,” Mr. Kelly said. “And they all look at least sufficiently attractive when it comes to the traffic potential in filling up the 737s.”

Since its founding in 1971, Southwest has operated only domestic US flights with its international début coming on July 1 of this year with service to Aruba, Montego Bay and Nassau International.

The absorption of its AirTran Airways (Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) subsidiary's operations, expected to conclude in December of this year, will bring with it flights to Cancún, México City International, Punta Cana, and San José Cabo.