Southwest Airlines to lease space for a lounge at Honolulu International Airport
Southwest Airlines previously said that it would be able to share more details about its next strategic moves in early 2026.
A Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) filing has shown that Southwest Airlines has requested a lease for the development, construction, and maintenance of an airline lounge at Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL).
The HDOT’s filing detailed that Southwest Airlines, which has hinted that it would begin rolling out lounges as part of its wider passenger experience transformation, will lease two spaces for at least five years.
“[…] the rental shall be determined by multiplying the applicable prevailing per square footage signatory airline terminal building rate by the demised square footage,” the filing read, noting that the ‘The Airports Signatory Carriers Rates and Charges, Hawaii Airports System for Fiscal Year 2025’ is $156.14 per square foot annually.
Southwest Airlines is looking to lease two buildings/rooms: one is around 9,577 square feet (889.7 square meters), while the other is around 2,664 sq ft (247.4 m2), with the HDOT mandating a minimum $20 million investment into the two areas, which presumably are going to be combined into a single lounge.
The filing highlighted that the area chosen by the airline "is the former Airport's Garden Conference Center,” located near the Central Concourse.
“To accommodate the increase in passengers to Honolulu, Southwest has requested a directly-negotiated lease for the construction and development of a new Airline Lounge,” the filing stated, with the HDOT recognizing the airline’s “commitment,” believing that the new lounge is in the best interest of Hawaii.
However, the HDOT’s Director of Transportation, Ed Sniffen, still has to approve the lease, which Curt Otaguro, the Deputy Director of Transportation for Airports at HDOT, recommended that he do.
During the airline’s Q3 2025 earnings call on October 23, Bob Jordan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Southwest Airlines, said while the carrier does not have any specifics to share, it is actively looking at “continued changes to widen our product offering for our customers, provide additional premium revenue opportunities and further enhance our Rapid Rewards loyalty program and co-brand economics, including things like premium seating, airport lounges and long-haul international destinations served by Southwest Airlines.”
When asked about the lounge survey that the airline sent out, which included the word ‘hub,’ Jordan said that first, ‘hub’ did not imply any kind of strategy change, clarifying that its 15 to 17 ‘mega cities’ “do some things that traditional hubs do.”
“Obviously, if we were to choose to go forward with lounges, and we have been talking about where do we go next strategically to continue to widen our offering” to improve the economics of Rapid Rewards, its loyalty program, and its co-brand credit card, the airline is looking at its customers desires for a lounge and where they would be located, Jordan said.
“There is active work in terms of developing the next strategy. And I am hopeful to be able to lay parts of that out early in 2026.”
Andrew Watterson, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Southwest Airlines, admitted that the airline’s credit card has not “done as well as others in recent times,” which these days, these cards are driven by “high-end, high-fee credit cards that come with lounge access.”
“So, our gap in RASM [revenue per available seat mile – ed. note] is turning into now more ‘other revenue’ driven by high-end credit cards that [sic] is what drives us to look at it as well as the customer desires that [Jordan] talked about.”
https://www.enginecowl.com/southwest-q3-2025/
During the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference on September 11, Jordan shed more light on the airline’s rationale for potentially adding lounges and maybe even venturing into the long-haul market.
“[…] if you are in Nashville, and you love Southwest Airlines, but you want a lounge, you want premium, you want extra leg room, you want to fly to London, whatever the list is, and we cannot provide it, you are going to pick another carrier.”
Jordan added that as a result, its customers are forced to “split” their wallets and add another airline’s co-brand card, simply because the airline does not offer these services. That is a service gap that Southwest Airlines is looking to close, the CEO stated.
“If we are going to continue to drive relevance, even as the largest domestic carrier, we have got to continue to meet the needs of our customers.”
Rytis Beresnevicius
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