Southwest Hawaii flights to Hilo Hawaii were confirmed today by the airline. In what was a timing surprise, the airline said that Hilo will be the company’s fifth Hawaii airport. The others are Honolulu, Maui and Kona, plus soon to be added Lihue Kauai.
An unexpected announcement.
The news came not as a press release but rather as a post on their Facebook page. Did the Big Island mayor cause this, or was it Southwest’s intention?
Mayor Harry Kim seemed to steal the announcement Friday night, when he disclosed that the airline was coming to Hilo. Kim indicated that there are four flights daily planned between Honolulu and Hilo by this fall, as well as direct flights between the mainland and Hilo later this year. Kim is known to be somewhat of a wild card.
That announcement was not confirmed last night by Southwest; it may however have precipitated what was otherwise not intended to be today’s Facebook post:
“Big news for the Island of Hawaii! We’re excited to announce that Hilo will be the fifth airport served by Southwest in the Hawaiian Islands. We’ll let you know when our low fares and interisland flights for Hilo are available for purchase.” — Southwest Airlines Facebook.
That leaves the big question of timing.
Can’t say that we weren’t left scratching our heads a bit on this. That since we are all anxiously awaiting flights to be announced from Sacramento and San Diego as well as flights to Lihue Kauai, plus nonstop flights to Kona. We still think those will come before, or perhaps now at the same time as Hilo flights.
We do not anticipate more Southwest Hawaii flight announcements until the issues with the Boeing Max planes are further along. Once a return to service date is actually set, we should see more Hawaii flights roll out. That doesn’t mean, however that Southwest couldn’t surprise us and do some announcement beforehand. That’s what keeps this interesting.
More about Hilo and what we love.
Hilo is the largest town on the Big Island, and the most historic. It feels like stepping back in time and has a charm unique in Hawaii.
The town sits on Hilo Bay at the base of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes. It is culturally rich with events including the world renowned Merrie Monarch festival. It’s home to the Mauna Loa mac nut company (which we hear is currently having a shortage), delicious Big Island Candies, and what is arguably the best coffee in the islands, from neighboring Kau.
Flights will be to and from Hilo International Airport, which is a large, underused facility set on a huge 1,391 acre parcel just east of the town.
Read all of our Southwest Hawaii updates.
Beat of Hawaii photo at Waianapanapa State Park near Hilo.
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Mahalo for all the updates!! You rock!! I keep looking daily for the flights from Sacramento to Honolulu to FINALLY be announced!! UUUgggghhhh!!! I check every day! Just waiting for a price break to go back and visit family hopefully more frequently/cheaper!!
Hi Brendan.
Thank you! The issue is the Max planes getting back into service. When that is clear, we will see those flights announced.
Aloha.
Woohoo! Looks like my contact at Hilo was legitimate, with this surprising announcement. So happy to hear Hilo is finally getting it’s due! Let the price wars between HA and SWA begin! Mahalo for staying on top of this, and now we are now looking forward to the Sacramento flights announcement, as well as where the direct flight from Hilo will be! As always we appreciate you guys…Much Aloha!
Hi Jim.
Thank you. We expect Hilo to start as connecting flight from Honolulu. What happens after that might largely depend on how successful Hilo is for SW.
Aloha.
I will definitely give SWA business, if they can keep the airfares for inter-island flights going “south”…pun intended! lol
Most of my family is on Oahu, and my Brother is on Maui, so they are now already hitting all three Airports that are best for us.
Looking forward to the next updates of their schedule. We are planning to come back to Hilo and then to Maui and Back to Hilo for a few extra weeks in October/November. We have been waiting for the Sacramento announcement to come, because that is our closest Intl. Airport, rather than traveling to the Bay Area to fly. Do you think it is wise to hold off until they announce SMF, or should we just start planning now? Mahalo for your input!
By the way, I leave ITO and head back on Saturday, so I will ask around to see if my local connection has any other updated info, and let you know if I hear something new/interesting…Thanks again for the great service!
Aloha.
Hi Jim.
It doesn’t seem that anyone has a fix on when the Max planes will be back in the air or when that return will even be announced. Thus it seems SW is stuck waiting on nearly 3 dozen planes to get back in the air. That will be the trigger for more routes. We all hope to know more soon.
Aloha.
Aloha and mahalo Southwest Airlines for announcements of flights coming to Hilo! Mahalo
Thank you so much for another update! We are planning a trip from Philadelphia over Thanksgiving this year, (November 23-30 in Kauai and November 30-December 7 in Honolulu). Our accommodations have already been booked, and we had been counting on flying Southwest. We are traveling as group of 7 (4 of them children) and I can fly free through the end of the year with the companion pass my husband earned. No baggage fees and the companion pass are huge reasons why we choose southwest, especially with children. We are starting to look at alternative flight options just in case, and are finding the pricing to be quite higher than we expected. We had planned to fly into on of the CA airports and spend one night each way to break up the trip, so we could leave PHL Friday evening 11/22 and fly to LIH on 11/23. We would be leaving HNL on 12/7, but again would most likely want to spend the night in CA and fly home to PHL 12/9 What do you think our best plan of action would be at this point of uncertainty with Southwest’s Hawaii flights?
Aloha!
Hi Allison.
It is not possible to say if Southwest will work out. That largely depends on when the Max planes return to the sky. Either way, then flying into SJC, OAK or SAN will be your best bet if you want to do an overnight. Warning here is that you are flying on a very expensive weekend at Thanksgiving. That won’t be cheap in any event. The early December return is less problematic but again a weekend. This is a tough call, but it might be best to purchase sooner than later if you are determined to come for those dates.
Aloha.
My con is getting married at Turtle Bay this December and am hoping this Max airline fiasco is over well before then!!! Keep up the good work Southwest.
Either way you will need to fly to CA 1st. Many airlines are competitive to get to CA. I have connected from SAN or LAX on Hawaiian AIr. Flying on a wide body for 5 to 6 hours is a +