Dive Brief:
- Southwest Airlines will debut new seats and a redesigned cabin in early 2025, the airline announced Friday.
- The airline will also retrofit existing Boeing 737 MAX 8 and -800s with onboard power ports and larger overhead bins, while Cintas will provide crew members with new uniforms.
- Southwest chose its new cabin colors — featuring “deep blue tones” and “sky blue accents” — based on extensive research the airline conducted of customers’ perceptions of color and comfort and expectations for an in-cabin experience.
Dive Insight:
Since its holiday meltdown that saw thousands of flights canceled over a year ago, Southwest announced a new customer experience unit and launched a flurry of new CX initiatives. Its redesigned seats and cabin are the airline’s latest customer-centric improvements.
Cosmetic changes to a cabin can have a big impact on passenger satisfaction, according to David Slotnick, senior aviation business reporter at The Points Guy.
“Even if the seats are comfortable, the flight attendants are friendly, and the service is great, an old, yellowing, outdated cabin can be a real drag on how passengers feel about the airline when they take a trip,” Slotnick said in an email to CX Dive. “That's especially notable on airlines that [have] a mixed fleet of aircraft with older cabins and planes with newer seats.”
Southwest touts its new seats as designed for “ultimate comfort while maximizing seat width and overall support.” The seats also feature adjustable headrests and — importantly for those who like to stay plugged in — holders for passengers’ personal electronic devices so passengers can enjoy inflight entertainment.
RECARO, a global supplier of aircraft seats, is providing the new seats.
“Airlines have been known to shrink seats in order to squeeze more onto each plane, but that doesn't appear to be the motivation here,” Slotnick said.
Southwest says the new planes will have the same number of seats as current planes, according to Slotnick. The airline also told CX Dive that the design will not shrink the width of the seats.
“The new RECARO seats maintain the average seat width and pitch on Southwest Boeing 737 MAX 8 and -800 aircraft, and exceed the width currently available on the -700 series aircraft,” a Southwest spokesperson told CX Dive in an email.
The airline worked with RECARO to develop more ergonomic cushions, using different foam technologies to add more padding to areas of the headrest, backrest and bottom cushion.
The cabin refresh builds upon previous Southwest initiatives. At the end of last year, the airline enhanced its Wi-Fi capabilities across its fleet so customers could browse with more bandwidth and speed. Its new 737 MAX 8 aircraft all have USB A and USB C power ports, and the airline says it is working to add these features to existing aircrafts over the next few years.
