Former United Exec Furlong to Lead Southwest Enterprise

Southwest Airways has employed former United Airways gross sales government Aileen Furlong as its new VP of gross sales, efficient Jan. 6, 2025, the service confirmed Friday. Furlong will oversee Southwest Enterprise and succeed Dave Harvey, who departed Southwest in Could.

In heading up Southwest Enterprise, Furlong will oversee gross sales to massive organizations together with companies, authorities and universities, Southwest chief working officer Andrew Watterson advised BTN. “She’ll be main us overseeing each our channel companions and {our relationships} with these massive organizations,” he mentioned.

Southwest took its time in filling this place, Watterson mentioned, as a result of the corporate needed somebody who had airline gross sales expertise in addition to broader industrial airline expertise, significantly because the service strikes into a brand new period of operations with assigned seats and premium cabins. 

“We’re going into a brand new world with our new product, and we predict that’s the subsequent leg for Southwest Enterprise,” Watterson mentioned. “We spent the previous few years with Dave Harvey constructing out a correct perform. Now we flip to this subsequent section, which might be underpinned by our new industry-standard product: assigned seating and further legroom. We expect this can be a great alternative for Southwest Enterprise, and Aileen has the well-rounded capabilities and experiences we had been in search of.”

Furlong spent 23 years at United in varied roles overlaying gross sales, buyer expertise, advertising and loyalty. Her most up-to-date place on the service was managing director of world company gross sales, during which she served from 2019 to 2023. She additionally has twice been named to the record of Prime 50 Ladies in Journey by the World Enterprise Journey Affiliation Ladies in Journey, and served on the GBTA WinIt advisory board from 2019 to 2023.

Furlong will relocate to Dallas and report back to Watterson till Southwest fills the SVP and chief income officer function, for which it’s actively recruiting. That new government not solely will oversee Furlong but additionally VP of income administration Matt Louis and VP of pricing Tim Lyon, who joined the service in August. Lyon beforehand headed up home pricing at American Airways and US Airways, in accordance with Southwest.