Southwest Airways is taking into consideration variations to its one-course, open-seating cabins to travel up revenue, CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC on Thursday, a shift that could be between the major in the airline’s record.
“We’re looking into new initiatives, things like the way we seat and board our aircraft,” Jordan said in an interview just after the carrier’s disappointing first-quarter report.
Southwest’s all-Boeing 737 fleet has a solitary economic system class cabin and no seating assignments, however it does supply previously boarding for a fee so prospects can snag their chosen seats. The airline has concentrated on maintaining its item very simple and consumer-friendly for several years, aiming to keep its very own costs and complexity to a minimal.
Meanwhile, rivals including Delta and United have touted superior profits development for top quality seating these as business enterprise course and solid upsell prices.
Analysts have frequently asked Southwest about chances for high quality seating or more fees. (The airline does not demand tourists for their very first two checked bags.)
Most U.S. airlines charge tourists to pick out numerous of its seats in advance, even people that never appear with extra legroom. Eight U.S. carriers — Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit and United — jointly introduced in $4.2 billion from seating costs in their domestic networks in 2022, in accordance to Jay Sorensen, an airline ancillary earnings skilled at IdeaWorksCompany.
Jordan reported no decisions have been manufactured on what kind of adjustments Southwest will in the long run make, but he reported reports have yielded “interesting” final results.
“Customer preferences do alter in excess of time,” Jordan said.
Though facts were scarce in the course of Southwest’s earnings call, when requested no matter if Southwest would think about a divided cabin on its planes, Ryan Eco-friendly, the carrier’s chief industrial officer reported: “Curtains and factors like that are a little bit significantly afield from what Southwest Airways is.”
Eco-friendly included that the carrier is not contemplating charging for checked baggage due to the fact “people select Southwest Airlines simply because we really don’t have bag fees.”
— CNBC’s Phil LeBeau contributed to this report.
