Southwest is not done making big changes, CEO Bob Jordan said Thursday, and one of the most significant still in the works could be the addition of long-haul international flights.
Asked at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference how Southwest will look in three to five years, Jordan mentioned the addition of airport lounges, expanded premium products, and, potentially, long-distance routes.
“I think it’s likely that we’ll, over that period of time, delve into long-haul international,” he said. “Again, these are all ideas, but we know these are things that our customers want.”
Jordan emphasized that plans for long-haul routes are in their very early stages, and so far no destinations have been finalized. But the airline’s leadership is taking the idea seriously, he noted, and believes Southwest could be “highly relevant” in the right markets.
“It’s out there, it’s something we’re thinking about,” he said.
Jordan said Southwest would likely focus on a “handful of destinations,” between eight and 12, and “pick off the vast majority of traffic.”
“We’re not going to become Delta and United and American in terms of serving 120 international destinations,” he said. “It took them decades to build that.”
When pressed on where Southwest would anchor long-haul international flights, Jordan said Baltimore would be a “natural” choice but cautioned that nothing had been finalized. Baltimore is Southwest’s busiest hub on the East Coast.
Southwest already serves numerous destinations in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, but it does not operate any long-haul international flights. Its current longest routes are to Hawaii and Alaska.
Spurred on by concerns about profitability, Southwest had made significant and sometimes controversial changes to its business model over the last year, including the introduction of assigned seating and checked bag fees.
