Southwest Airlines is considering more changes that could fundamentally alter its model, with chief executive Robert Jordan saying his team is evaluating possible eventual flights to Europe and amenities like airport lounges.
Speaking on 9 September in Washington, DC, Jordan also notes Southwest, should it decide to fly to Europe, would need a different aircraft type – and therefore ditch its all-Boeing-737 fleet.
He insists such ideas are only under consideration and suggests no such changes are imminent, while declining to provide a timeline.
“We are going to continue to pursue the customer and provide the things that they want,” Jordan says, speaking during the US Chamber of Commerce Global Aviation Summit. “We’ve got … millions of folks that love Southwest Airlines. They would love to fly us to Europe, as an example.”
Southwest is already in the middle of a business transformation intended to help it capture more revenue from customers willing to pay more for an enhanced product.
“Southwest Airlines doesn’t have lounges… We don’t serve destinations beyond what the 737 [can] serve,” Jordan adds. “We don’t have a true premium product… A first class. A business class.”
“I’m not promising those things… Everything is on the table at Southwest,” he says.
In other words, Jordan plans to continue re-evaluating all that historically made Southwest Southwest, including tenets once viewed as central to its success, like an all-737 fleet.
Executives already tossed several classic Southwest policies. It started charging for checked bags this year and next year plans to begin assigning seats. Southwest is also installing “premium” seats with more legroom on its jets.
Southwest has an incredibly expansive domestic flight network but serves only a handful of international destinations in the Caribbean and Central America.
It dipped a toe into more international markers in recent months by establishing booking partnerships with Icelandair and with China Airlines and Eva Air, both based in Taiwan.
’DIFFERENT AIRCRAFT’
Jordan clearly sees opportunity further afield, noting Southwest has a massive US presence in cities like Nashville, Baltimore and Phoenix. But its customers there must book other airlines to travel internationally, he said on 9 September.
“Should we chose to fly to Europe… that’s not a mission the 737 Max will do, so we [would] need a different aircraft” – either a widebody or different narrowbody, Jordan says. “It could be that a widebody is just too much, at least for a start.”
Several airlines already fly Airbus’s new 4,700nm-range A321XLR across the Atlantic.
Longer term, Airbus and Boeing are expected next decade to bring new narrowbody jets to market. Boeing has been considering both a 737 replacement and a larger and longer-range narrowbody like a 757 replacement that could be designed for transatlantic routes, according to sources.
“We’re not ruling out anything in terms of what can serve that mission at this point.” Jordan says.
Southwest’s overhaul comes amid an operating environment that left several US discount airlines rethinking their strategies.
