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

ARLINGTON, Texas — Southwest Airlines is considering airport lounges, more premium seating and even long-haul international flights to win over high-spending customers, CEO Bob Jordan said Wednesday.

“Whatever customers need in 2025, 2030, we cannot take any of that off the table. We’ll do it the Southwest way but we’re not going to say ‘We might never do this,'” Jordan said in an interview with CNBC at an airport industry conference. “We all know we send customers to other airlines because there’s some things you may want that you may’t get on us. That features things like lounges, like true premium, like flying long-haul international.”

Southwest is in the course of a metamorphosis. That has included undoing a few of its policies like open seating, a uniform cabin and allowing all customers to envision two bags at no cost, things that had set it aside from rivals in much of its 54 years of flying.

But it surely has faced pressure from competitors, and an activist investor last yr pushed the carrier to extend revenue. And airfare within the U.S. has dropped.

Southwest and other carriers pulled their 2025 forecasts earlier this yr, citing economic uncertainty. Jordan said Wednesday that the airline is constant to see cheaper fares.

“The summer is usually never on sale, and the summer is heavily on sale right away,” he said.

Despite making major changes to its business model, Jordan said the carrier hasn’t seen customers defect to other airlines because it introduced no-frills basic economy tickets and bag fees late last month, policies rivals already had.

But making changes on the high end is significant, too, he said.

Competitors like Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have added more luxury tourism destinations and roomier, dearer seats, they usually’ve also invested heavily in airport lounges. For instance, earlier Wednesday, American unveiled plans to just about double its lounge space at its Miami International Airport hub.

Jordan said it’s “way too soon to place any specifics” on potential changes, but he called out Southwest stronghold Nashville International Airport — where the airline has a greater than 50% market share, based on airport data — as a spot where customers are hungry for luxury.

“Nashville loves us, and we all know we’ve got Nashville customers that want lounges. They need top quality. They need to get to Europe and they are going to Europe,” he said.

But getting those things means those customers need to book on one other airline, which could make them more more likely to add that rival’s co-branded bank card to their wallets, too, he said.

“I would like to send fewer and fewer customers to a different airline,” he said.

Jordan said it is also too early to say whether Southwest will make the shift to purchasing longer-haul aircraft, which it might must go to Europe; it’s relied on the Boeing 737 for greater than half a century. Southwest has been forging international partnerships — Icelandair and China Airlines, to this point— but a Southwest plane landing in Europe sooner or later is on the table, he said.

“No commitment, but you’ll be able to definitely see a day after we are as Southwest Airlines serving long-haul destinations like Europe,” he said. “Obviously you would want a special aircraft to serve that mission and we’re open to what it might take to serve that mission.”

Within the nearer term, Southwest remains to be awaiting deliveries of Boeing 737 Max 7s, the smallest plane within the Max family, which still hasn’t won Federal Aviation Administration certification. Jordan said the manufacturer has made progress with more consistent deliveries recently, but Southwest doesn’t expect to fly the Max 7 in 2026.