As Boston service starts, Southwest looks ahead

Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly, a 54-year-old former quarterback for the University of Texas-El Paso, spoke with Globe reporter Katie Johnston Chase at the Langham Hotel on last week to talk about the carrier’s ambitions for Boston and beyond.

Southwest is starting with flights to Baltimore and Chicago, and everyone is very curious which destinations you’ll be adding. What are some Boston routes the airline might consider next?

I think that there’s a whole list of potential cities for us to consider, but for now we’re trying to approach the year very cautiously. It’s just a very difficult economy. We’ve got very weak business travel demand. We’re concerned about rising fuel prices. . . . There’s every good reason to believe we can grow in the future. It’s just again, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves yet.

There’s lots of competition at Logan, and since you’ve announced service here, some airlines have slashed fares on competing routes. Why should Boston area travelers choose Southwest?

We always have the effect of bringing down fares in the market, so travelers in and out of Boston can thank Southwest for that. We’re the low-fare leader and very, very proud of that. That’s our specialty. In addition to that, though, you’ve got the airline with the best customer satisfaction record, year in and year out, according to the [Department of Transportation] statistics. So we bring a unique brand of customer experience, and certainly our low fares, but also great people. Year in and year out, we’re at the top of the on-time performance list. We have great baggage handling, and we’re just continuing to expand our route system.

A lot of business travelers fly in and out of Boston. Is Southwest doing anything to court them specifically?

In 2007 we improved our overall boarding process. We created a new product called Business Select. If you buy our Business Select fare, that allows you to board the aircraft first, get your pick of seats. We offer open seating. You also get frequent flier credit, as well as a free cocktail.

A free cocktail - important for business travelers . . .