BALTIMORE (Map, News) - When Southwest Airlines eventually has “capability to fly outside the [United States], [Baltimore-Washington International Airport] will prove to be a great launch point for us,” Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly told more than 250 at the BWI Business Corridor Partnership’s 22nd annual meeting Monday. “This airport is terrific. It is well-positioned for growth.”

Kelly stressed there is no timeline and European capability would involve a “co-chair partners” rather than Southwest Airlines planes.

“I can’t say exactly,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of work beyond just changes to the reservation system.”

He said Southwest plans to offer connections to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico in 2009.

“And I hope that by 2010 we will have European connections,” he said. “We hope to find some partner who meets our philosophy of customer service.”

Southwest serves more customers than any other airline in the world, Kelly said. BWI ranks fourth in Southwest cities — behind Las Vegas, Chicago Midway and Phoenix — with 178 departures a day to 39 cities.

About 3,000 of BWI’s 10,000 employees work for Southwest.

The airline started June 18, 1972, with three airplanes serving three cities. It now has 500 Boeing 737s and 32,000 employees.

Cheers and applause greeted Kelly’s announcement of a free round-trip ticket to everyone there before he ceremoniously cut a birthday cake.

BWI Partnership Chairman Louis Zagarino announced Baltimore-Washington Medical Center as Employer of the Year.

He introduced CEO Jim Walker and pointed out that the former North Arundel Hospital is consistently “named one of the top 100 hospitals in the country.”

Atwood “Woody” Collins III, mid-Atlantic division president of M&T Bank, introduced Kelly.

A few weeks ago, M&T opened the first full-service branch in BWI, “one of the few [banks] to open a branch in an airport.”

Collins said with 10,000 airport employees, “slightly more than the population of Bel Air,” and 10 million passengers a year, opening a BWI bank branch just made sense.

Editor’s note: The Examiner staff writer did not accept the round-trip Southwest flight.