Southwest CEO: We Won’t Introduce Basic Economy
Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines debuts Louisiana One, a new specialty aircraft, in New Orleans on March 07, 2018. Southwest Airlines / Stephen M. Keller
Skift Take
Southwest has known for years that there is money to be made in differentiation and protecting your brand identity regardless of what Wall Street thinks. That's a factor in its decision not to launch basic economy or bag fees.
Southwest Airlines is still a maverick.
While the big three U.S. network airlines — Delta, United, and American — have introduced a no-frills Basic Economy product that generally comes with no seat selection or early boarding, and JetBlue plans to do so, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly flatly ruled it out.
In talking about two revenue-generating initiatives planned for 2020, which will be detailed later this year, Kelly also crushed any speculation and repeated that the airline will not introduce bag fees for the first two checked bags. In other words, those bags will still fly free.
Speaking to financial analysts and the press Thursday after Southwest announced its fourth quarter and full-year 2018 earnings, which marked the airline's 46th consecutive year of profits, Kelly responded to a question about whether the basic economy trend, including JetBlue's plans, is driving So
