More Airline Uncertainty, Southwest Installs Extra-Legroom Seats, and Other Airline News This Week

In this week’s roundup of airline-related stories from the past 7 days that didn’t get their own article, we focus on events largely in the U.S., where more major airlines have reported their financial results for the first quarter of 2025.

Let’s dive in.

American, Southwest, and Alaska Lose Money, Say 2025 Too Uncertain for Forecast

This week, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Airlines all reported first-quarter financial results and withdrew financial guidance for 2025. The economic situation is just too unsettled to issue forecasts, they said.

American Airlines lost $473 million in the first quarter, more than the $312 million it lost in the same period a year ago, on revenue of $12.55 billion, unchanged from the first quarter of 2024. Southwest also posted a net loss in the quarter, of $149 million, on a record revenue of $6.4 billion.

“Uncertainty is the word of the day,” AA CEO Robert Isom said on CNBC, adding that fewer people are traveling for vacation in the U.S. “Domestic leisure travel fell off considerably” in February, he said.

Like Delta Air Lines, American is doing better with premium classes, international, and business flying. “Throughout the first quarter we saw strength from an international perspective,” Isom said, as well as “some strength in business travel.”

Southwest said in a securities filing, as reported by CNBC, that “amid the current macroeconomic uncertainty, it is difficult to forecast” a result for 2025. This is an especially important year for Southwest, the biggest U.S. airline by domestic passengers carried, because it is changing its business model. In May, Southwest will introduce basic economy fares and fees for checked luggage. In the third quarter, it will begin selling extra legroom seats and assigning seats, abandoning its famous open-seating policy.

Alaska Airlines it still expects to be profitable in 2025 but also declined to make a forecast because of “economic uncertainty and volatility.” In the first quarter of 2025, the first full year after merging with Hawaiian Airlines, it reported a a net loss of $166 million, compared to a loss of $132 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue was $3.1 billion, up 41% year on year, CNBC reported.

First quarters tend to be the weakest for airlines, since it’s the time of year with the lowest passenger traffic.

United May Roll Out New Polaris Soon

United Airlines may be about to introduce a new version of its Polaris business class, which may be at least an incremental improvement over its current seats. According to the JonNYC account on Bluesky, which has a consistent record of getting predictions right in aviation, the new cabins will debut on the 787-9s that United will get from Boeing in May.

This new iteration of Polaris may have doors, like JetBlue’s Mint or the latest version of Delta One, as well as ottomans at bulkhead seats for 2 people to dine together. Wireless charging for devices will also be included.

Seat capacity will also change significantly: The new 787-9s should have 64 Polaris seats, 35 in premium economy and 123 in economy. That’s a very premium-heavy configuration compared to the current 48-21-188 layout on United’s 787-9s. It should mean more possibilities for upgrades.

While we don’t have announcements from United, we do know that the airline has 144 Boeing 787s on order, that its current Polaris cabin debuted in 2017, and that U.S. competitors are rolling out newer business products. American Airlines is about to introduce fully enclosed pods with doors, too.

Southwest Begins Putting Extra-Legroom Seats on Its 737s

Southwest Airlines is making a lot of changes, and among them is a radical departure from its egalitarian, all-seats-are-the-same ethos: The airline will introduce premium, extended-legroom seats, and it will switch to assigned instead of open seating.

Now we know when the first plane with extra-legroom seats will enter service. It’s scheduled to begin flying customers on May 1, Southwest said. The airline plans to modify all of its fleet by the end of the year.

There’s an interesting twist, though: Many extra-legroom planes will be in service months before Southwest plans to begin selling assigned seats. That will happen in the third quarter of 2025, for flights departing from early 2026. So passengers on many Southwest flights will find themselves on planes with extra legroom seats and the old, free-for-all seating policy — leading to scrambles to nab the good seats. (There are strategic ways to get the best seats on Southwest, though.)

As for the modifications themselves, they are quite simple. They involve extra spacing in the first 5 rows, as well as installing USB-A and USB-C power outlets and larger overhead bins, according to the airline. The first planes to be modified will be the 737-800 and 737 Max 8 models, to be followed by the smaller 737-700 after the summer.

American Airlines Revamps the App

American Airlines is changing the look and some functionalities of its mobile app. The airline said customers will begin seeing the new app “as it rolls out through the end of May.” According to American, the new features include:

• A more personalized home screen, with information about upcoming trips and one’s AAdvantage account at a glance
• A new AAdvantage section with information to explain status and miles
• A new section dedicated to all upcoming trips plus intuitive options to review flight status and find a trip
• Inspiration about destinations to which American flies
• iOS upgrades including Live Activities to display real-time flight updates on the lock screen

The revamped app will also feature “ways to engage with the airline’s partners,” American said. The app screenshots do, in fact, feature prominent links to co-branded American Airlines credit cards.

Hawaiian Airlines Joins Alaska at LAX and JFK

Hawaiian Airlines is moving house to be next to its new sibling, Alaska Airlines. Now that the airlines have merged, they are moving check-in operations together.

Hawaiian has moved to Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where Alaska Airlines already was, Alaska said. At New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Hawaiian moved from Terminal 4 to Terminal 8, where its Oneworld alliance partners American Airlines and British Airways already are. By October, Alaska will also move in from Terminal 7. 

The JFK move is great news for Hawaiian’s first class passengers, who now have access to 2 American Airlines lounges at Terminal 8: the Admirals Club and the much more posh Greenwich Flagship Lounge.

Chase Sapphire Terrace in Austin Morphs Into a Public Space

It wasn’t quite a Chase Sapphire Lounge, but it was a remarkable space — and now it’s that rare throwback to a bygone age of aviation: a public viewing area overlooking an airport. We’re talking about the erstwhile Chase Sapphire Terrace at the Austin (AUS) airport, which closed earlier this year and has now been reincarnated into a public space.

ATX Jetsetter reports that the furniture left over from 2 years as a quasi-lounge leased by Chase is still in place, and that any passenger who has cleared security can sit there to watch planes coming and going, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Chase will probably be back with a proper lounge, though. We know that there are 3 new airline lounges coming to Austin, plus a fourth space that could indeed become a Sapphire Lounge by The Club. Or maybe an American Express Centurion Lounge.

A New Airline From New York to Israel

Competition from New York to Tel Aviv (TLV) is heating up, with another Israeli airline gearing up to serve the popular route.

Israir has received tentative approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fly between the 2 countries, Aviation Week reported. The Israeli carrier plans to start flying to New York City in time for Passover of 2026, when traffic is heaviest between Israel and the metropolitan area with the most Jewish people in the world after the Tel Aviv conurbation itself.

Israir currently flies only single-aisle Airbus A320s and doesn’t have planes with the range to make the journey. According to Israeli financial site Globes, it will lease a long-haul A330 for the JFK service.

Israeli flag carrier El Al has most of the market share between New York and Tel Aviv. Another Israeli airline, Arkia, began flying to JFK earlier this year. After a lengthy suspension because of the Israel-Hamas war, Delta has recently resumed serving TLV from JFK, as has United from Newark (EWR).

Final Thoughts

If there’s an overarching theme from last week in air travel, it’s that airlines in the U.S. are concerned about the economy’s future. In the meantime, though, they are going ahead with changes that benefit passengers with the spending power — or the points and miles — to fly at the front of the plane. Take United’s new business class, for example, which is expected to match Delta’s and American’s new pods with sliding doors.