Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is strengthening its presence in the United States (US) through an interline agreement with Dallas-based low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co., providing a more seamless linkage for travelers across the Pacific.

Southwest announced on Wednesday, Nov. 5, that it has secured an international partnership with PAL to provide customers with access to both airlines’ extensive networks.

This marks Southwest’s fourth partnership with a foreign carrier following recent agreements with Icelandair, China Airlines, and EVA Air.

Under Southwest’s agreement with PAL, travelers can now book connecting Southwest flights through PAL’s website and its third-party booking channels.

This setup is initially available for Southwest’s key hubs facing the Pacific—Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Honolulu—where it operates nearly four dozen flights.

“Southwest is positioned like no other airline in serving Philippine Airlines' passengers arriving or departing the United States,” said Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson in a statement.

PAL Vice President of Revenue Management Christoph Gaertner, for his part, noted that the interline partnership “enables seamless connections and single-ticket journeys across both of our networks.”

“As we continue to expand PAL's global reach, this collaboration provides more travel options and greater flexibility, giving our guests access to a wider range of destinations in the [US],” he added.

PAL currently serves eight destinations in North America, with nonstop flights to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, and Honolulu, as well as the American territory of Guam.

The Lucio Tan-led airline earlier announced plans to mount flights to major cities such as Las Vegas, Chicago, and Houston. But this is still under evaluation, especially due to limitations in fleet.

PAL is set to receive five Airbus A350-1000s next year, with initial plans to expand flights to New York. The carrier will close the year with a fleet of 83 aircraft.

PAL currently operates to 31 domestic destinations in the Philippines and 38 international destinations in Asia, North America, Australia, and the Middle East.

Beyond PAL, Watterson said the US carrier plans to explore additional transatlantic partnerships before the end of the year.

“Each airline partnership brings unique and incremental reach to places around the globe for both carriers and gives more consumers an opportunity to begin or end their journey with Southwest,” he said.