Southwest has become intrinsic to Hawaii travel, and not having their flights even temporarily would be a devastating blow to Hawaii visitors and residents alike.
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23 thoughts on “Southwest Became So Essential To Hawaii Travel. Now What?”
Aloha Airlines had over 3000 employees who contributed very impressive tax revenue to the State of Hawaii.
It’s now time for Southwest to open a Pilot and Flight Attendant base in Honolulu. So that these employees can contribute tax revenue to Hawaii.
A heavy B737 maintenance base employing many hundreds of local Hawaii residents would be even better.
Aloha. Barry.
Without getting too far ahead, I expect a deal for Hawaii that will involve a maintenance-type base that any/all airlines that fly Boeing aircraft will be able to use when their aircraft(s) have a maintenance issue/problem – whether that’s something simple as spare parts, or emergency maintenance.
The key here – all airlines (irrespective of brand) will be able to contract with this F.A.A.-approved facility for their Boeing aircraft, especially the 737 MAX’s and NG’s and their immediate servicing needs.
This facility will provide supplemental cash flow to the company operating the facility in addition to their other on-going operations, and provide additional local and higher paid skilled positions for Hawaiians.
Let’s see if this comes to fruition, or it could die on the vine.
As WN is the largest airline in terms of domestic passengers, there will be no strike.
Why? As WN is so large in the U.S. domestic market, if they were not to operate – this would be harmful to the entire U.S. economy, including Hawaii.
The airlines (pick your choice) would not be able to handle the increased amount of additional passengers that are carried by SWA on a daily basis.
As soon as the WN pilots walkout and strike, the President will issue an emergency order mandating the pilots immediately return back to work.
You will not see a strike. Case closed.
I miss Aloha Airlines. The forced bankruptcy of Aloha has had a dramatically deleterious and long lasting negative effect on Hawaii inter island air travel. The absences of a true local based airline as a good competitor to HAL is what has brought us to this point, fewer good options in air service. Not so long ago, Aloha and Hawaiian both flew regular scheduled flights to all the Islands including Molokai and Lanai. Without pear competition there can be no growth or improvement. The Hawaii Islands air transportation market is unlike any other in the world and demands a commercial enterprise with a special focused commitment and deep understanding of all aspects of this reality. The opportunity is present for that local pear competitor airline to take flight. SWA is good for competition but they are not Aloha.
At my age I don’t fly on Southwest because I don’t want join the stampede to find a seat.
My concern is that Southwest will drive Hawaiian out of business,
since Hawaiian Airlines has far better connections to Kauai from PDX
than other airlines.
Boo Hoo! Hawaiian had no problem running Island Air out of business!
Most concerning would be interisland flight costs. Southwest has kept interisland flights an affordable option, they don’t charge for 2 bags or changes. Their Boeing 737 NG and Max jets are better than the aging 717s Hawaiian flies. On every occasion that competition went away from interisland, Hawaiian took that opportunity to price gouge residents.