Southwest airport lounges? CEO says carrier is open to high-end change

ARLINGTON, Texas — Southwest Airways is contemplating airport lounges, extra premium seating and even long-haul worldwide flights to win over high-spending clients, CEO Bob Jordan stated Wednesday.

“No matter clients want in 2025, 2030, we can’t take any of that off the desk. We’ll do it the Southwest approach however we’re not going to say ‘We might by no means try this,'” Jordan stated in an interview with CNBC at an airport business convention. “We all know we ship clients to different airways as a result of there’s some issues you may want that you could’t get on us. That features issues like lounges, like true premium, like flying long-haul worldwide.”

Southwest is in the course of a metamorphosis. That has included undoing a few of its insurance policies like open seating, a uniform cabin and permitting all clients to examine two baggage free of charge, issues that had set it aside from rivals in a lot of its 54 years of flying.

Nevertheless it has confronted stress from opponents, and an activist investor final 12 months pushed the service to extend income. And airfare within the U.S. has dropped.

Southwest and different carriers pulled their 2025 forecasts earlier this 12 months, citing financial uncertainty. Jordan stated Wednesday that the airline is constant to see cheaper fares.

“The summer time is mostly by no means on sale, and the summer time is closely on sale proper now,” he stated.

Regardless of making main modifications to its enterprise mannequin, Jordan stated the service hasn’t seen clients defect to different airways because it launched no-frills fundamental financial system tickets and bag charges late final month, insurance policies rivals already had.

However making modifications on the excessive finish is necessary, too, he stated.

Rivals like Delta Air Strains, United Airways and American Airways have added extra luxurious tourism locations and roomier, dearer seats, and so they’ve additionally invested closely in airport lounges. For instance, earlier Wednesday, American unveiled plans to almost double its lounge area at its Miami Worldwide Airport hub.

Jordan stated it is “approach too quickly to place any specifics” on potential modifications, however he referred to as out Southwest stronghold Nashville Worldwide Airport — the place the airline has a greater than 50% market share, based on airport knowledge — as a spot the place clients are hungry for luxurious.

“Nashville loves us, and we all know we now have Nashville clients that need lounges. They need first-class. They wish to get to Europe and they will Europe,” he stated.

However getting these issues means these clients should e book on one other airline, which might make them extra seemingly so as to add that rival’s co-branded bank card to their wallets, too, he stated.

“I wish to ship fewer and fewer clients to a different airline,” he stated.

Jordan stated it is also too early to say whether or not Southwest will make the shift to purchasing longer-haul plane, which it might must go to Europe; it is relied on the Boeing 737 for greater than half a century. Southwest has been forging worldwide partnerships — Icelandair and China Airways, thus far— however a Southwest airplane touchdown in Europe in some unspecified time in the future is on the desk, he stated.

“No dedication, however you may actually see a day after we are as Southwest Airways serving long-haul locations like Europe,” he stated. “Clearly you would wish a distinct plane to serve that mission and we’re open to taking a look at what it might take to serve that mission.”

Within the nearer time period, Southwest remains to be awaiting deliveries of Boeing 737 Max 7s, the smallest airplane within the Max household, which nonetheless hasn’t received Federal Aviation Administration certification. Jordan stated the producer has made progress with extra constant deliveries lately, however Southwest would not count on to fly the Max 7 in 2026.