Southwest Airlines is exploring changes to its single-class cabin, potentially signalling an eventual departure from the carrier’s signature system of no assigned seating.
Chief executive Bob Jordan hinted at the possibility of offering multiple seat choices during the Dallas-based carrier’s quarterly earnings call on 25 April.
“We are considering more transformational options and follow-on initiatives that include work previously underway to study customer preference around seating in our cabin,” Jordan says, adding that it has been several years since Southwest has studied the possibility of a different seating arrangement.
“Customer preferences and expectations change over time,” he says. ”We are also studying the operational and financial benefits of any potential change.”
Jordan further alludes to adapting “as needed”, but says it is too early to “share the specifics of what we are exploring”.
Moving on from its relatively egalitarian system with no assigned seats would be a major departure for Southwest, which is retooling on multiple fronts. It is cutting several destinations from its network and has “essentially frozen and stopped all hiring except for a limited number of critical positions”, Jordan says. The company is also offering pilots voluntary unpaid time off.
Southwest reports a $231 million first-quarter loss amid surging operating costs and Boeing 737 Max delivery delays.
“Through continued efficiency efforts, we are already seeing the benefits of time off without pay programmes,” Jordan says.
The company also expects to trim its workforce and end the year with 2,000 fewer employees than at the end of 2023.
Asked to elaborate about Southwest’s plans for its cabin-seating configuration, Jordan confirms his team is “seriously looking at this”, keeping in mind customer preferences, the cost of cabin modifications and changes to Southwest’s customer-facing technology platforms.
”I’m proud of our product today and customers love it,” Jordan says. “But it was designed at a time when load factors were lower, and higher load factors do change the way [customer] preferences work and the operation works.”
”By early indications, for both for our customers and Southwest, this looks pretty darn interesting.”
Southwest will share more about its new seating strategy during its investor day in September.
