Southwest Airlines appointed Aileen Furlong as Vice President of Sales to lead Southwest Business, starting January 6, 2025.
Southwest Airlines has selected Aileen Furlong as its new Vice President Sales to lead the airline’s Southwest Business function. She will officially join Southwest Airlines on Jan. 6, 2025. Southwest Business serves corporate Customers – both corporate travel managers and travel management companies – with an approach that offers direct support and self-service options to companies of all sizes.
“Aileen’s appointment is a wonderful opportunity for Southwest Business and our entire Revenue Organization,” said Andrew Watterson, Chief Operating Officer at Southwest Airlines. “She has the well-rounded capabilities and experiences we were looking for to take our organization to the next level, and we’re thrilled to have her join the Southwest Family next month.”
Furlong comes to Southwest after a 23-year career at United Airlines where she was a trusted transformational leader with a proven record of building and delivering innovative programs and generating revenue. She has a diverse background that includes leadership and management roles in sales, loyalty programs, marketing, and customer experience. Most recently, she served as Managing Director, Globalb Corporate Sales, where she negotiated contracts with top global accounts and led a team of global account management sales professionals.
Furlong’s appointment comes as Southwest continues building its Revenue Organization to unite the revenue production disciplines – Revenue Management, Pricing, and Southwest Business – into a new business unit under a single Leader.
Active in the business travel community, Furlong has twice been named as one of the “Top 50 Women in Travel” by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and Premier Traveler counted her as one of the Most Compelling Women in the Travel Industry. She is also a past member of the GBTA Women in Travel Advisory Board.
Furlong holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Georgetown University and an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.