Southwest Airlines Is Planning An Orlando Airport Lounge—We Now Know 8 Of 11+ Planned Locations

Southwest Airlines is planning an airport lounge in Orlando as part of the airport’s terminal expansion, a source at the airline tells me. And there turns out to be a public paper trail for it. The airline’s main gates are Airside 2 (which consists of 100-129) on Concourse 2. This is being expanded, and the expansion work had an airline club added to it a few months ago on level three, with an optional terrace in the design scope. Southwest has officially named four airports where its first lounges are under construction: Austin, Baltimore, Honolulu and Nashville. They’ve committed to at least 11 lounges. Between those announcements, executive comments, airport plans and this new Orlando information, eight airports are now in the known pipeline. Orlando Airport Documents Show The Lounge Space I identified Orlando as a likely Southwest lounge location in August, specifically pointing to the Airside 2 expansion. Southwest has the passenger volume, and new construction creates an opportunity to secure space that’s much harder to find in an existing terminal. The airport’s plans go beyond what’s in its general public project description, which discusses adding a third wing and new gates. An April 2 airport presentation to contractors lists “Airline club space (Level 3)” as part of the Airside 2 expansion. The airport’s June design and engineering solicitation includes an “Airline club/lounge facility, including vertical circulation, optional terrace, and support spaces.” An August capital planning document proposes increasing the overall expansion budget from $374 million to $681.9 million, covering the new wing, aircraft parking positions and a premium lounge. So in addition to Orlando being a likely location for a Southwest lounge, and Southwest employees confirming the plan, airport documents show the project is underway. We don’t know the size of the lounge from available documents. The Four Announced Airports, And Four In The Chute Southwest’s September announcement says construction has begun at four airports, with the first guests expected in late 2027: Austin. I originally broke this news on the 20,000 square foot lounge in the West Infill space above the new security checkpoint. This was originally intended for a bank lounge. Southwest will ultimately move to the new concourse when it’s completed in the early 2030s, and has taken a total of 40,000 square feet of lounge space as part of the airport’s new use and lease agreement, so presumably their lounge will move to that concourse – and this initial lounge could become a Chase lounge. Baltimore. Roughly 30,000 Sq Ft at Southwest’s biggest Northeast operation, presumably in the new Concourse A/B connector, where the airport created substantial shell space for future concessions. Honolulu. The former Garden Conference Center beside the Cultural Gardens. Southwest’s lease covers 12,241 Sq Ft across two levels after being expanded from the original agreement. Nashville. A 30,000 Sq Ft lounge above Acme Feed & Seed in the central terminal Marketplace. Plans include a bar, buffet, grab-and-go food, a mother’s room and a children’s area with a treehouse, climbing wall and interactive floor piano. Then there are four additional airports where the evidence points beyond that announcement: Denver. CEO Bob Jordan has said Southwest is leasing lounge space. The likely location is the Concourse C East expansion. Dallas Love Field. The airport’s redevelopment plans include lounge space. Southwest controls 19 of the airport’s 20 gates. Washington National. The Terminal 1 redevelopment includes a 10,000 Sq Ft lounge. Southwest dominates that terminal and is the clear intended user. This is tied to a much longer construction timeline reaching into the 2030s. Orlando. A Southwest source now tells me they’re planning a lounge as part of the expansion, and the Airside 2 documents already provide for the space. Southwest Still Needs More Locations And To Find The Space To Build Them Houston Hobby, Chicago Midway, Las Vegas and Phoenix all make sense based on Southwest’s operation. Finding suitable real estate near the airline’s gates is the challenge. Houston Hobby has a concourse expansion underway, but I haven’t identified a Southwest lounge allocation. Midway is overwhelmingly a Southwest airport with very little obvious room for a substantial club. Las Vegas and Phoenix have the Southwest passenger volume. It’s not fully clear where Southwest locates a lounge. St. Louis makes sense as part of its future terminal redevelopment, when lounge space can be included in the design rather than carved out of an already crowded building. The airline is building these lounges alongside a new premium Chase credit card, due in 2027, that will provide access. Orlando is an obvious fit for that. Customers saving points for family vacations to Disney World and related theme parks and activities are precisely the kind of customers they want to be attracting. The guest rules will be especially important in Orlando. A card that gets one person into a lounge is a very different proposition from one that covers a family returning from Disney World. We don’t yet know what access rules will look like. Topics on this page