Southwest Airlines today introduced a new sleek cabin experience to enhance Customer comfort, improve fleet efficiency, and give back to the environment. Dubbed Evolve: The New Southwest Interior , the cabin update utilizes durable and environmentally responsible products to reduce waste and create weight savings onboard the aircraft, while enhancing comfort for Customers.

Inspired by Southwest’s past with a nod to the airline’s future, the cabin refresh features recyclable carpet, a brighter color-scheme, and a more durable, eco-friendly, and comfortable low-profile seat that weighs less than the current seat. The new interior design also provides the unique opportunity of greater revenue potential by increasing the number of seats onboard from 137 to 143, without sacrificing Customer comfort and personal space but, at the same time, increasing under-seat room for carryon luggage.  Southwest will begin retrofitting its current fleet of 372 Boeing -700s with the Evolve interior in March 2012, anticipating completion in 2013, for a total estimated cost of approximately $60 million.

Evolve: The New Southwest Interior is a win for each aspect of the triple bottomline: Performance, for increased durability, improved fuel burn, and additional revenue opportunity; People, with a new interior that emphasizes comfort and personal space; and Planet, for featuring sustainable, recyclable materials.  That is just good news all around.  Look forward to checking out the new interior this coming June.