Houston mayor Annise Parker has endorsed Southwest Airline’s bid to fully fund a $100 million dollar expansion to Hobby Airport. She made her announcement in a press conference on May 23 while standing next to Southwest Airlines CEO and chairman Gary C. Kelly, surrounded by cheering Southwest employees.

While the airport currently has no international commercial flights, Southwest plans to add five international gates and a customs facility, with routes to Latin America and the Carribbean. Southwest is also expanding into the international market with its recent acquisition of AirTran.

The move to expand Hobby is aggressively fought by United-Continental, who recently announced its plan to expand its international presence in Houston’s main international airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Houston is the airline’s gateway to Latin America. It is a central hub, previously the headquarters of Continental Airlines before it merged with United Airlines and moved the headquarters to Chicago, Illinois.

United-Continental claims that making Hobby international will draw a great number of passengers away from Intercontinental Airport, causing the airline to cut back on approximately 3,700 jobs. Southwest counters that the Hobby expansion could add 10,000 jobs. Southwest also claims that the addition of international routes from Hobby will increase competition and decrease fares, breaking up the monopoly that United-Continental holds.

The Houston City Council still needs to vote on the matter. The vote is set for May 30. Both airlines have added numerous lobbyists to their payroll in order to wage their public battle. The new international gates and customs facility would be fully funded by Southwest Airlines; Houston would front no money for the infrastructure.

All of the new facilities would be fully owned by the city of Houston. In return, Southwest would use four of the five gates free of charge. The fifth gate could be used by any airline that pays rent. As an incentive, airlines will receive a rebate for every passenger they bring to Houston who would have otherwise flown through a different city, at a maximum of $3.9 million annually. Houston would benefit an estimated $1.6 billion a year, without having to put up any money.

Southwest plans to start construction in 2013 and end construction in 2015. Southwest has also recently decided to defer an order of 30 new Boeing aircraft in order to save about $1 billion. Both Southwest’s and United-Continental Holding Inc.’s shares rose shortly after the announcement but then fell about two percent after hours.

Image Courtesy of    Annise Parker

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Southwest Airlines has introduced a new sleek cabin experience to enhance Customer comfort, improve fleet efficiency, and give back to the environment. Dubbed ‘Evolve: The New Southwest Interior’ , the cabin update utilizes durable and environmentally responsible products to reduce waste and create weight savings onboard the aircraft, while enhancing comfort for Customers.

Inspired by Southwest’s past with a nod to the airline’s future, the cabin refresh features recyclable carpet, a brighter color-scheme, and a more durable, eco-friendly, and comfortable low-profile seat that weighs less than the current seat.

The new interior design also provides the unique opportunity of greater revenue potential by increasing the number of seats onboard from 137 to 143, without sacrificing Customer comfort and personal space but, at the same time, increasing under-seat room for carryon luggage.

“We are preparing now for our next 40 years with a fleet modernization plan that includes the new interior, the Boeing 737-800 which is scheduled to come online beginning in March this year, and the 737 MAX, which is expected to join the Southwest fleet in 2017,” said Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

“The evolutionary changes we’re making with the new interior uphold our low-cost roots and historic focus on Customer Service. The cabin upgrade also allows us to create significant revenue opportunities without adding unwanted fees.”

Beginning with a partnership between Southwest’s Maintenance and Engineering and Marketing Teams, Southwest set out to improve the inflight Customer Experience while increasing the durability of onboard materials, but without adding costs. In 2009, Southwest launched the “Green Plane” to test the market’s latest sustainable products onboard an aircraft in an effort to forge a new path in onboard eco-friendly products.

Based on the inflight test results and feedback from Customers onboard the Green Plane, Southwest’s new Evolve interior features the E-Leather seat cover and many of the other products tested on the Green Plane including the carpet, life vest pouch, foam fill, and passenger seat rub strips. To view a time lapse video of a Boeing 737-700 transforming into the Evolve: The New Southwest Interior.

Southwest will begin retrofitting its current fleet of 372 Boeing -700s with the Evolve interior in March 2012, anticipating completion in 2013, for a total estimated cost of approximately $60 million.

As integration of AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest, moves forward, Southwest anticipates that AirTran’s Boeing -700s and 717s will also be retrofitted with the new cabin interior as those aircraft are converted into the Southwest brand over the next several years. Other Southwest fleet types are still being evaluated for a possible retrofit.

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