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1,796 thoughts on “Southwest Hawaii Stiffens Competition: 11 New Daily Flights Exposed”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Southwest Hawaii Stiffens Competition: 11 New Daily Flights Exposed
One additional KEY point is that Southwest does not currently fly redeyes. To gain access to vast majority of Southwest’s network from Hawaii, it will invovle a redeye flight (either from Hawaii to West Coast OR from West Coast to midwest hub). In addition, Southwest does not currently allow for double-connections (e.g. HNL-OAK-MDW-BOS). This reduces the number of available destinations to/from Hawaii.
Once these two things are fixed (and it mainly has to do with old IT infrastructure), Southwest will most likely start service to Hawaii.
Hi Tony,
True enough. We understand these issues are currently being addressed – first the overnight issue. That was in part what we were referring to here: “SWA using existing 737-800 aircraft before 2017 is highly unlikely for logistical and other reasons.”
Aloha.
I will be curious to see if, when SouthWest decides to come to Hawaii, it chooses an airport besides HNL as a base. They may wish to make Maui, Kona, Hilo or Kauai their base to save landing fee costs, as they have done in other major markets. Of course, it will depend on whether they decide to also offer inter-island, something we all hope will happen.
We are headed to HI in Sep of 2017 for our 40th anniversary. I’m hoping SWA will be flying there by then. Airfares are outrageous to HNL from RDU these days. Roughly 5 or 6 years ago we flew RT to HNL for $475 and gas was $3.75 a gallon now that ticket is usually $900 for post Labor Day flights and gas is $2 a gallon something doesn’t jive. We surf constantly to stay abreast of fares, hoping SWA gets in the game!
I am of the opinion that SWA should have not let go of the flights they were codesharing with American Trans Air when that airline went tango-uniform. The pilots and some of ATA’s aircraft wrre already ETOPS certified, how much problem would have it been for them to keep those pilots and aircraft around while bringing newer, extended range 737s online? After all, they ultimately inherited (and then let go of) a number of 717s as part of the later AirTran acquisition. Major oversight by SWA, IMO.
I agree
Please inform me of Southwest flights to Hawaii.
Eager to fly SWA to HNL,Maui,Big Island. Have Coffee farm in Kona, so travel would be frequent!!!!!
I am hoping Southwest gets it sorted out by the time I get married in the summer of 2017. I want to use my flying miles to go on my honeymoon in Hawaii! I only fly SOUTHWEST!LETS GO SOUTHWEST!!!!!!
Thank you for compiling this information and suggesting some possibilities for why SW flights are not yet available to go to Hawaii. Still sounds like it is a realistic possibility but not any time soon. However Watterson’s comment that they “feel no need” right now sounds to me like it is a diversionary tactic. Do they not feel a need in regards to not needing additional revenue that would come from the thousands of people who live in the Midwestern states and want to vacation in Hawaii? I have plenty of family members who would love to be able to go to Hawaii but flights from where they live typically involve two to three layovers and fares that are double if not triple what they are for the west coast states, unless one of the airlines happens to offer a special discounted fare. I live in Phoenix so flights are about $100-200 more roundtrip than the West coast cities which is not too bad, but here again there are plenty of people in the Southwest, Midwest, NW and in between states (Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, etc) not to mention the NE and SE states, etc. I am not buying it when they say they have no need. I think there is a significant size market that they should be trying to figure out how to service and provide affordable flights for these people to Hawaii. Not just Southwest airlines – but all the airlines.
It doesn’t matter what kind of airplane. It’s all down to the cost. Can w agree to n that!!!????
When Aloha Air was still around I flew twice between Santa Ana and Honolulu and I think they were using 737-700s on that routing. The flight was slower than “normal” by about an hour but they took good care of the passengers and I got a little more nap time. The -800 right out of the wrappings is more than up to the job mechanically and for Southwest to offer Hawaii service, it’s mostly an issue of ironing out the details. Interisland service would be right up WN’s alley and I do agree that market needs more capacity and competition. This will be an interesting situation to watch, for sure!