Southwest Airlines has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities and modernize its technology infrastructure, with plans to transition to a fully cloud-based environment by 2028.
The agreement will see the airline move from a largely on-premises technology environment to a cloud-based architecture powered by AWS. Southwest said the initiative will support faster operations, greater flexibility, improved reliability, and enhanced customer service across the business.
Technology plays a central role in nearly every aspect of Southwest’s operations, from booking flights and managing daily schedules to supporting more than 70,000 employees. The airline said the partnership is part of a broader effort to simplify its technology environment and improve how systems work together at scale.
“Southwest has always evolved our business with a focus on improving performance, efficiency, and reliability—and applying that same mindset to our technology with AWS is a core part of that strategy,” said Lauren Woods, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at Southwest Airlines.
“From Customer experience, to operations, to how we build the systems behind it—all of it is coming together in a way that helps our Teams move faster, make better decisions, and deliver for our Customers.”
Cloud Based Airline Vision
Southwest said it is continuing to modernize its technology footprint on AWS and aims to complete its transition to a fully cloud-based environment by 2028. The airline is also expanding its use of artificial intelligence and agent-based technologies through AWS tools, including Amazon Quick.
The carrier serves approximately 134 million travelers and plans to use AI across customer experience, operational management, and software development functions.
“Southwest Airlines is using AI to deliver on its commitment to being a customer-obsessed airline. By deploying AI agents across customer experience, operations, and software development, they’re accelerating innovation for 134 million travelers—and proving that pioneering ambition paired with AWS’s agentic AI capabilities delivers real, measurable results at scale,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President, Agentic AI at AWS.
AI Tools Accelerate Modernization
As part of the initiative, Southwest is using Kiro, AWS’s agentic coding service, to modernize Southwest.com, one of the airline’s largest customer-facing platforms.
The website has historically relied on a large number of on-premises systems, resulting in lengthy modernization cycles. Southwest said Kiro is helping accelerate that process by refactoring legacy code and streamlining development workflows.
More than 2,700 developers are currently using Kiro to build new features, automate testing processes, and generate cloud infrastructure. According to the airline, tasks that previously took hours can now be completed in minutes.
Southwest is also adopting an AI-driven software development model built on AWS capabilities, including the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle (AIDLC). Under the approach, AI agents assist throughout the development process while engineering teams remain responsible for oversight, validation, and final outcomes.
The partnership represents one of the airline’s most significant technology modernization efforts and forms part of its strategy to improve operational performance and customer experience over the coming years.
