Southwest Airlines Unveils Plans for Cabin Redesign, New Seats, and Crew Uniforms

Southwest Airlines’ cabins are getting a new design and new pro-passenger features.

Starting next year, travelers flying on Southwest will be greeted with fresh interiors, new aircraft seats, and a new look for the cabin crew as part of an overhaul of Southwest’s fleet that includes changes already announced in 2022 

The changes, announced Friday, will be first seen on all new deliveries to Southwest next year. Some, including those updates announced in 2022, will be gradually added to its current fleet over the next few years. The changes include:

1. New design
Southwest is changing the look and feel of its interiors—the carrier has partnered with design company Tangerine to redesign all the interiors of planes delivered to Southwest next year. That redesign includes new colors—“deep blue tones, sky blue accents, and a nod to the Southwest Hear woven throughout the carpet”—along with new seats, designed by RECARO Aircraft Seating, that include “enhanced head and neck support.”

2. New crew uniforms
All of Southwest’s team members who work in airports, which includes cabin crew, ground operations workers, inflight operation workers, and more, will be outfitted with new threads that are currently in the design phase.

Southwest is working with Design Collective by Cintas, its current uniform vendor, and brand consultant and fashion stylist Bonnie Markel, to develop the new look. Both Cintas and Markel are taking inspiration from a team of 75 Southwest Employees collaborating on the process.

Southwest has not released a preview or a teaser of the new uniforms just yet.

3. Better WiFi, in-seat power, and more
Along with those design improvements to the seats, guests will also see some improved inflight functionality when they fly on the new Southwest cabins.

That includes personal device holdings on the new RECARO seats that will allow guests to place their tablet or phone on the seatback in front of them, instead of on the seatback table or holding it out in front of them the entire flight. It also includes USB-A and USB-C power ports, larger overhead bins for luggage, and better Wi-Fi, one enhancement that was part of those 2022 announcements.

While those changes are coming on all of Southwest’s new deliveries, the airline also said that its fleet of MAX 8 and 737-800 aircraft will also get them, a process that is anticipated to be completed “over the next several years.”