DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines will partner with other carriers next year.
Southwest also revealed more details of its pending move to assigned seating and the addition of extra-legroom seats.
The morning announcements came ahead of an Investor Day event the airline is holding at its Dallas headquarters on Thursday, and as Southwest's leadership braces for a proxy challenge by Elliott Investment Management, an investor that owns 11% of Southwest shares. Elliott said on Tuesday that it plans to call for a proxy vote as soon as next week.
Icelandair will be
Southwest's first partner in a long time, resuming an alliance the carriers first launched in
the 1990s but had long since ended. In recent decades, Southwest has
eschewed working with other airlines in the fashion that has long been
commonplace in the industry.
The Icelandair partnership will launch out of Southwest's Baltimore base, offering flyers access to Icelandair's European network via Reykjavik. Southwest expects the partnership to expand to other U.S. cities over the course of the year. The airline also said it intends to add at least one other partner carrier next year.
Southwest in July said assigned seating will replace its open-seating policy and that it will retrofit aircraft with its first extra-legroom seats. On Thursday, the airline said it expects to begin selling assigned seats in the second half of next year, with the first flights operating with the new model in the first half of 2026.
Southwest said its new boarding process will maintain Southwest's approach of boarding through position numbers with numbered signage posts located within the gate areas. Premium customers and holders of premium seats will board first.
Southwest's extra-legroom seats will offer up to five inches of additional space between rows, the airline said Thursday. Southwest did not say it would reduce legroom for standard seats to accommodate the change, but said it would maintain "a standard economy seat pitch among the best in the industry."
Southwest also said it would continue its policy of allowing customers to check two bags free of charge.
The airline expects its series of initiatives to deliver approximately $4 billion in incremental earnings before interest and taxes by 2027.