Southwest Airlines has spent decades doing things differently from its largest US rivals, including operating without airport lounges. That is now changing. Less than six weeks after CEO Bob Jordan acknowledged that there was “work underway” on lounges, construction records indicate that facilities linked to Southwest at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Nashville International Airport (BNA) could both be completed during the first half of 2027.

Nashville has the clearest timeline, with the Nashville Business Journal reporting on a contractor schedule that points towards a June 28, 2027, completion date. Meanwhile in Texas, a filing for Austin’s 20,000-square-foot “Project Oasis” lists March 1, 2027, as its scheduled completion date. Of course, these are construction targets rather than opening dates, and we know those timelines are notorious for slipping. But they do provide the strongest indication yet that Southwest customers could gain access to airline-operated lounges as early as next summer.

Austin And Nashville Are Racing To Become Southwest’s First Lounge

Credit: Shutterstock

Nashville is currently the most substantial project directly linked to Southwest, as the airline has secured a building permit for a 30,000-square-foot lounge (3,716 square meters) valued at $53 million. The scale makes sense: Southwest is BNA’s largest carrier, and accounts for more than half of its 25 million annual passengers.

Construction documents cited by View From The Wing suggest the facility will include a bar, buffet, grab-and-go station, mother’s room and an unusually elaborate children’s area featuring a treehouse, climbing wall and interactive floor piano. That combination would cater to both Southwest’s traditionally family-heavy customer base and the higher-spending travelers it is increasingly trying to attract.

But Nashville might well be beaten to first place by Austin, where Southwest is leasing 40,000-square-feet ​of space as part of the new concourse development. However, half of that space is likely to be used for the carrier’s new crew base, as the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) records show a privately funded 20,000-square-foot (2,477 square meters) airport lounge called “Project Oasis.” This is expected to be built in the West Infill premium lounge space, which was originally scheduled to be with a lounge for a financial institution, and has a $55 million construction cost and March 1, 2027, completion date.

While the filing does not explicitly name Southwest, its listed tenant contact and telephone number also appear on an earlier filing explicitly involving Southwest facilities at AUS. Which makes sense, as Austin would be a very logical early location. Southwest handled more than nine million passengers at AUS over the past year, and is facing increasing pressure (especially for premium travelers) from Delta Air Lines and its massive growth at Austin in the past few years.

How Big Could Southwest’s Lounge Network Become?

Credit: Denver International Airport

Austin and Nashville are just the appetizers in an emerging buffet of Southwest lounges. Hawaii’s Department of Transportation has approved a direct Southwest lease to develop and operate an airline lounge at Honolulu International Airport (HNL). The space spans roughly 12,000 square feet across two levels in what was formerly the Garden Conference Center. The airline has reportedly received a five-year term with $20 million in minimum improvement costs.

Denver International Airport (DEN) is also more than speculation. In April, Jordan told Bloomberg that lounges were a “near term” pursuit, and specifically pointed to Denver as one of the priorities. No public construction schedule comparable to those at BNA or AUS has emerged for Denver, but Jordan’s wording leaves relatively little doubt that the carrier is pursuing a facility there. DEN is one of Southwest’s most important stations, with over 240 daily departures to nearly 100 destinations, so it’s an obvious candidate for an early lounge.

Beyond those four airports, certainty drops considerably. Dallas Love Field (DAL) is an obvious candidate because it is Southwest’s home airport, and Dallas’ long-term Love Field Expansion Airport Program includes a review of common-use lounge provision. Southwest will also lease 18 of the airport’s 20 gates under an agreement beginning in 2028. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is another possibility: planning documents for its future redevelopment include 10,000 square feet (929 square meters) for an as-yet-unnamed airline lounge.

View From The Wing has also suggested Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Houston Hobby Airport (HOU), Orlando International Airport (MCO), Chicago’s Midway International Airport (MDW) and Lambert St Louis International Airport (STL) as potential subsequent additions. While all five would make strategic sense given Southwest’s scale at each facility, any second wave of lounges will be highly dependent on airport redevelopment plans, because suitable post-security real estate is scarce and has long been snapped up by legacy carriers.

The Lounges Aren’t Really About Lounges: They’re About Chase

Credit: Shutterstock

The biggest clue to Southwest’s lounge strategy comes from Jordan himself. During the airline’s second-quarter earnings call, he pointed to lounges as the trigger that will help expand Southwest’s co-branded credit card proposition in partnership with Chase. If the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card were to offer lounge access, much like high-end cards from other airlines do, then it would likely drive significant growth in co-branded card adoption.

That matters because Southwest said that acquisitions of Chase co-branded cards jumped 28% year-over-year in Q2, and the revenue associated with its loyalty-partner agreements, including Chase, increased by nearly 20% to $2.6 billion last year. But that’s nowhere near its potential, when you consider that Delta makes more than that every quarter from its American Express relationship. Southwest has a very real prospect of adding billions of dollars straight to the bottom line without purchasing a single extra aircraft or flying a single extra flight. No wonder then that Jordan is touting the co-branded cards:

“The whole purpose, again, is to expand co-brand opportunities, expand the card set, and provide to our customers something that they really, really want.”

There’s also another side to the partnership, as Chase already operates a rapidly expanding premium lounge business of its own. It currently has eight Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club, with eligible cardholders also able to use the Etihad Airways lounge at Washington Dulles, and another Sapphire Lounge already planned at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Southwest would surely be interested in leveraging that existing network at large stations like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

That is what makes Southwest’s lounge push much more significant than a simple airport upgrade. Austin and Nashville may be the first visible pieces, but the real prize is giving frequent flyers another reason to carry a Southwest credit card, spend on it, and stay loyal to Rapid Rewards. If Southwest can use its own lounges alongside Chase’s network to narrow even part of the enormous loyalty-revenue gap with Delta, the returns could dwarf the cost of building the facilities. For Southwest, the most valuable thing in the lounge may ultimately be what it persuades customers to keep in their wallets.