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

Arlington, Texas – Southwest Airlines In a statement on Wednesday, CEO Bob Jordan, airport halls, more premium sitting, and even long -distance international flights are intending to earn high spending customers.

In an interview with CNBC at an airport industry conference, Jordan said, “Whatever the customers need in 2025, 2030, we will not take it from the table. We will do it from the Southwest Road, but we will never say ‘We will never do it,” Jordan said in an interview with CNBC. “We know that we send customers to other airlines because there are some things that you may want to reach us. This contains things like real premium, such as flying Long-Haul International.”

In the middle of a southwest transformation. This included some policies, such as an open seating area, a uniform cabin, and all customers control two bags free of charge, and in most of their 54 -year flights.

However, he faced the pressure of competitors and pushed an activist investor investor carrier to increase income last year. And the plane ticket in the United States fell.

Southwest and other carriers made their 2025 estimates by referring to economic uncertainty earlier this year. Jordan said on Wednesday that the airline continues to see cheaper wages, he said.

“Summer is usually not on sale and summer is now on sale.” He said.

Despite the major changes in the business model, Jordan said that at the end of last month, the carrier did not see that customers were defective to other airlines because he introduced his frills basic economic tickets and bag fees.

However, he said that it is also important to make high changes.

Rivals Delta Air Lines– United Airlines And American Airlines They added more luxurious tourism destinations and wider, more expensive seats and also invested in the airport halls. For example, on Wednesday, the American planned to double the hall area at the Miami International Airport Center.

Jordan said that it was “too early to put any feature on potential changes, but according to the airport data, according to airline data where customers are hungry for luxury, the Airline called Southwest Castle Nashville International Airport, which has more than 50% market share.

“Nashville loves us and we know that we have Nashville customers who want a living room. They want first class. They want to go to Europe and go to Europe,” he said.

However, to obtain these things means that customers should make a reservation in another airline, which can make the opponent more likely to add the common branded credit card to their wallets.

“I want to send less and less customers to another airline,” he said.

Jordan said it was too early to say whether Southwest would go to Europe to buy longer -distance aircraft to Europe; confidence Boeing More than half a century 737. Southwest has been building international partnerships so far – Icelandir and China Airlines – but at some point, the landing in Europe is on the table.

“There is no commitment, but you can definitely see Southwest airlines that serve long -distance destinations like Europe.” He said. He continued: “Obviously you will need a different aircraft to serve this task and we are open to looking at what to do to serve this task.”

In the near term, Southwest is still waiting for the delivery of Boeing 737 Max 7S, the smallest plane in the Max family, which cannot win the Federal Aviation Administration certificate. Jordan said that the manufacturer has recently made progress with more consistent deliveries, but that Southwest did not expect to fly Max 7 in 2026.