Southwest Airlines is in the midst of a dramatic transformation, but the carrier may not be stopping at assigned seating and baggage fees.
The low-cost airline’s leadership isn’t ruling out the rollout of new premium offerings, airport lounges or long-haul international flights to coveted destinations like Europe as it looks to compete with other airlines.
“Whatever customers need in 2025, 2030, we won’t take any of that off the table. We’ll do it the Southwest way but we’re not going to say ‘We would never do that,'” Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC at an airport industry conference this week.
“We know we send customers to other airlines because there are some things you might want that you can’t get on us. That includes things like lounges, like true premium, like flying long-haul international.”
“I want to send fewer and fewer customers to another airline,” Jordan added.
When it comes to one day offering airport lounge access and long-haul flights to Europe, Southwest’s newest operating base in Nashville could be a potential starting point.
“Nashville loves us, and we know we have Nashville customers that want lounges,” Jordan told CNBC. “They want first class. They want to get to Europe and they’re going to Europe.”
“No commitment, but you can certainly see a day when we are as Southwest Airlines serving long-haul destinations like Europe,” he added. “Obviously, you would need a different aircraft to serve that mission and we’re open to looking at what it would take to serve that mission.”
In addition to doing away with its polarizing open seating policy and beloved bags fly free offering, Southwest has recently introduced redeye flights on select routes, new fare products and benefits for loyalty program members.
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