Southwest Airlines won't begin reconfiguring aircraft with extra-legroom seats until the middle of 2025. The carrier had previously expected to begin turning out the retrofitted planes as soon as March.
As previously planned, the extra-legroom seats won't be sold as a separate product until sometime during the first half of 2026, when Southwest intends to introduce assigned seating. Until then, customers boarding early will get the first shot at an extra-legroom seat if their plane is equipped with them.
The extra-legroom seats will occupy approximately one-third of Southwest planes, offering 34 inches of space between rows. To make room, the carrier will reduce the space between rows on its larger aircraft, the 737-8, by one inch for standard seats. That will leave those seats with a spacing of 31 inches, which is what Southwest's 737-7 planes have. To make room for extra-legroom seats on 737-7 planes, Southwest will remove some of the current seats.
Ryan Green, Southwest's executive vice president of transformation, said that Southwest expects to get FAA weight and balance certification for the new configuration during the first quarter. A second certification the airline needs ahead of the retrofit, called a Supplemental Type Certificate, isn't likely to be awarded until the second quarter.
Southwest had previously said it expects to retrofit its fleet of approximately 800 planes at a rate of 50 to 100 per month.
Green presented a generally bullish report on the progress Southwest is making on the commercial transformation plan it laid out last fall. He noted that the carrier's interline partnership with Icelandair will launch Feb. 13 through Baltimore before expanding later in the year to Nashville and Denver.
He also said Getaways by Southwest, the in-house vacation packager that will replace the Southwest Vacations brand, has added MGM Resorts to its partner list in Las Vegas.
"This will give us access to a substantial portion of the hotel inventory in Las Vegas," he said.
Chief commercial officer Andrew Watterson affirmed previous comments by Green that the packager will focus largely on direct sales. Travel agency sales, he said, "will be at the margins."
Southwest profitable in Q4
For the fourth quarter, Southwest reported net income of $261 million, reversing a net loss of $252 million during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Southwest reported operating revenue of $6.9 billion, up 1.6% from 2023, while operating expenses dropped 7.9% due largely to lower fuel prices.
For all of 2024, Southwest reported net income of $465 million, identical to 2023. The carrier's revenue of $27.5 billon was up 5.3% from 2023 as it flew 4.4% more capacity.
CEO Bob Jordan said the airline is on track to meet goals for increased revenue and margins that were revealed at its Investor Day in September.
The carrier is forecasting a margin of 3% to 5% for 2025, up from a 1.2% margin in 2024.