Southwest Airlines is considering doing away with open, single-class seating on its aircraft.
In an interview with CNBC, ahead of the airline’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, CEO Bob Jordan said the company is weighing options for cabin reconfiguration to address its recent revenue shortfall.
“We’re looking into new initiatives, things like the way we seat and board our aircraft,” Jordan told the network.
Southwest has long differentiated itself from other airlines with one class of seating and little variability – no extra legroom seats or first class on its 737 fleet. But now, Jordan said it may be time to change the strategy.
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“Customer preferences do change over time,” he told CNBC. He acknowledged the airline hasn’t made any decisions on implementing a new strategy but said studies about what they could do have yielded “interesting” results.
For now, the only reliable way for Southwest customers can get their seating preference is to pay extra for an earlier boarding position. Southwest Airlines does not currently assign seats and passengers claim their real estate as they board the plane in an assigned order.
During Thursday’s earnings call, Jordan confirmed the airline was exploring updates to its seating and boarding processes. He also announced Southwest would be ending service to Syracuse, New York; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (the airline will still serve William P. Hobby Airport); Cozumel, Mexico and Bellingham, Washington. Jordan cited underperformance in those markets as the reason for their closure.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
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