Southwest Airlines has hired former United Airlines sales executive Aileen Furlong as its new VP of sales, effective Jan. 6, 2025, the carrier confirmed Friday. Furlong will oversee Southwest Business and succeed Dave Harvey, who departed Southwest in May.
In heading up Southwest Business, Furlong will oversee sales to large organizations including businesses, government and universities, Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson told BTN. “She’ll be leading us overseeing both our channel partners and our relationships with these large organizations,” he said.
Southwest took its time in filling this position, Watterson said, because the company wanted someone who had airline sales experience as well as broader commercial airline experience, particularly as the carrier moves into a new era of operations with assigned seats and premium cabins.
“We’re going into a new world with our new product, and we think that is the next leg for Southwest Business,” Watterson said. “We spent the last few years with Dave Harvey building out a proper function. Now we turn to this next phase, which will be underpinned by our new industry-standard product: assigned seating and extra legroom. We think this is a wonderful opportunity for Southwest Business, and Aileen has the well-rounded capabilities and experiences we were looking for.”
Furlong spent 23 years at United in various roles covering sales, customer experience, marketing and loyalty. Her most recent position at the carrier was managing director of global corporate sales, in which she served from 2019 to 2023. She also has twice been named to the list of Top 50 Women in Travel by the Global Business Travel Association Women in Travel, and served on the GBTA WinIt advisory board from 2019 to 2023.
Furlong will relocate to Dallas and report to Watterson until Southwest fills the SVP and chief revenue officer role, for which it is actively recruiting. That new executive not only will oversee Furlong but also VP of revenue management Matt Louis and VP of pricing Tim Lyon, who joined the carrier in August. Lyon previously headed up domestic pricing at American Airlines and US Airways, according to Southwest.
