Southwest Airlines is considering Boeing 787s for its first long-haul international flights, according to a Reuters report on Thursday. Three people familiar with the airline's planning said Southwest is leaning toward the 787 Dreamliner, and one said it has thought about a fleet of dozens of them. The idea has reportedly been discussed on a timeline of about three years.
Southwest says it has no fleet news to share, and nothing has been decided. Still, it's the clearest sign yet that the airline is serious about flying to Europe or Asia on its own planes. I think that'd be a mistake.
Reportedly under consideration
Southwest's Long-Haul Bet
Boeing says the 787 is sold out through the end of the decade, so Southwest has reportedly looked at leased or used jets to start sooner.
Southwest says it has no fleet news to share. No decision has been made.
Contrail
What's Being Reported
Southwest has flown only one type of plane, the Boeing 737, for its entire history. A 787 would be its first widebody, the larger twin-aisle jets airlines use for long flights across oceans.
CEO Bob Jordan has been hinting at this for months. In May, he said Southwest would likely move into long-haul international flying within three to five years, and that eight to 12 destinations could cover most of where its customers want to go. He also made clear that Southwest isn't trying to copy Delta, United or American, which fly to around 120 international destinations.
Airbus has also been pitching its planes, but the 787 reportedly has the stronger position.
Simplicity Is the Whole Point
Flying just one kind of plane is a big part of why Southwest became one of the most successful airlines in American history. Every pilot can fly every plane. Every mechanic knows every jet, and spare parts work everywhere. When something breaks in Denver, the airline can swap in another 737 without reshuffling crews across the country.
A 787 fleet throws much of that away. Southwest would need new pilot training, new maintenance programs, new regulatory approvals and new deals with its unions over pay and work rules for flying much longer trips. That's a lot of cost and complexity to take on for a handful of routes.
The Planes Aren't Easy to Get
There's also a practical problem. Boeing says the 787 is sold out through the end of the decade. Southwest has reportedly looked at leasing jets or buying used ones to get started sooner, but those routes usually mean paying more, or flying older planes that are harder to make feel new.
Long-Haul Is a Different Business
Long international flights don't make money the way short domestic hops do. A big share of the profit comes from the front of the plane, where business travelers pay many times the price of an economy seat for a lie-flat bed, good food and a lounge before departure. Delta, United and American have spent decades building that product, along with joint ventures with foreign airlines that feed them passengers on both sides of the ocean.
Southwest is only just getting started on premium. It's added assigned seats and extra-legroom seats, and it has announced airport lounges. Those are real changes, but there's a big gap between that and a business class that can compete with United Polaris or Delta One on an overnight flight to Europe.
Cheap Long-Haul Has a Rough History
Plenty of airlines have tried to take a low-cost, no-frills model across the ocean, and it's often ended badly. Norwegian built a big long-haul operation on Boeing 787s and gave it up in early 2021. WOW Air, the Icelandic budget airline, collapsed in 2019 after adding bigger planes and longer routes.
Southwest isn't Norwegian or WOW. It's far bigger and has a loyal customer base. But those stories show how fast long-haul flying can turn a healthy airline into a struggling one when fuel spikes or demand dips.
The Partners Already Do This
The strangest part of the plan is that Southwest already has a way to sell trips overseas. It now has 11 international airline partners: Air Premia, ANA, China Airlines, Condor, EVA Air, Icelandair, LOT, Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and Turkish Airlines.
These partnerships let Southwest carry passengers to a big airport and hand them to an airline that already flies long-haul well. Icelandair's new St. Louis route is a good example. It works because Southwest can feed travelers from across the Midwest into the flight. Southwest gets the customer, and the partner takes on the expensive part.
If Southwest wants to grow internationally, deepening those partnerships seems like a much safer bet than buying a fleet of widebodies.
A Better Move
To be fair, there's a real argument for going it alone. Southwest's loyalty program and credit card make a lot of money, and members who want to fly to Europe or Asia currently have to take those trips elsewhere. Keeping them inside Southwest is worth something.
But the airline has already changed a lot in a short time, from charging for bags to adding basic fares to assigning seats. Its loyal customers are still adjusting to a very different Southwest. Adding a whole new kind of airline on top of all that is a big risk.
Southwest's strength has always been doing one thing better than anyone else. Before it spends billions on 787s, I'd want to see it lean harder on the partners it already has and keep its core airline running well.
