Southwest Airlines CEO Confirms Another Major Change

Southwest Airlines has already made fairly a few high-profile adjustments over the past a number of months, but it seems like another vital change is on the horizon for the major airline.

While Southwest is based in the Dallas space, the airline doesn’t presently fly out of the town’s largest airport, the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Instead, the airline has been restricted to its home base at Dallas Love Field, where it operates 18 of the airport’s 20 gates.

However, it seems like Southwest is anticipating to come to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in the close to future.

• End of Free Bags: Southwest Airlines started charging clients for checked baggage back in May, ending its longstanding “bags fly free” coverage.

• Assigned Seating: Beginning in January, Southwest Airlines will ditch its longstanding open-seating coverage and embrace an assigned seating model.

• Ditching its Point-to-Point Model: Southwest has made it clear that it is going to transfer away from its point-to-point model, which prioritizes nonstop flights, and instead embrace more of a hub-and-spoke model, connecting cities through central hubs.

• Expanding Internationally: The airline announced earlier this 12 months that it intends to broaden its worldwide choices, doubtless even including long-haul flights to Europe.

• Free In-Flight WiFi: Southwest has begun offering free in-flight WiFi to its Rapid Rewards members.

While Southwest Airlines is based in Dallas, Texas, it doesn’t presently operate out of the town’s greatest airport. But it seems like that’s about to change.

Speaking at the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s annual Aviation Breakfast last week, Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan confirmed that the airline can be coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at some level in the future.

“It is not if, it’s when,” Jordan said, via the Dallas Business Journal. “We will be at DFW.”

There are two major causes why Southwest Airlines is now wanting to broaden to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The first is that a key law that prevented the transfer is expiring. The second is that the airline is wanting to broaden internationally.

As the Dallas Business Journal explains, decades-old federal law, recognized as the Wright Amendment, beforehand would have required Southwest to give up some of its 18 gates at Love Field if it ever expanded to DFW. However, that modification expired this 12 months, paving the way in which for Southwest to broaden to Dallas-Fort Worth if it desired.