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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
I can’t wait for SWA to start their Hawaii routes. Unfortunately Hawaiian Airlines has been taking advantage of being basically the only inter island carrier. Therefore because of this they gauge the inter island passengers. When Aloha Airlines stoped their comercial flights Hawaiian’s prices Doubled sometimes even three times what it used to cost when Hawaiian didn’t have the inter island monopoly. Now for to & from the mainland/Hawaii that to is Awesome news! Having said that the amount of Hawaii people that fly to Las Vegas as well as the amount of Hawaii people living in Vegas that fly home is A Lot. Can you please consider doing a Las Vegas Direct Hawaii and back? I bet if you do a servey you’ll see the mount of passengers there are for the Vegas routes. Hawaiian Airlines Vegas routes are always Sold Out it’s so hard to get on the flights from Vegas to Hawaii and back or Vice versa. So Please set up the Las Vegas Hawaii route sooner than later. Mahalo!!
Please add Seattle ASAP to Kona! Alaska should not have the monopoly on direct flights.
Alaska doesn’t have a monopoly on SEA-KOA – Delta also flies the route.
Personally I believe it’s time for SWA to expand on its fleet of multiple B737 variants and add the B787 for the oceanic route; by doing that I believe that the ETOPS certification would be easier to attain and sustain. Base those widebodies at the strategic airports (OAK, SAN, LGB) and move a group of the B737-7/8 Max’s out to the islands for inter-island travel to minimize the wear and tear on the workhorse that the B737 has been over so many decades.
As far as the OC market is concerned, unless the county/city can make provisions to expand SNA (which it can’t) OR get residents to vote in the late MCAS El Toro to make that the new OC airport, LGB will be the closest option to getting out to the islands.
The operation that SWA has been over the years is quite impressive, however, as previously stated I think it’s time to had some heavies in the mix to make the long haul flights easier on the passengers and crew alike.
@Ian
Not sure why you believe swa cannot fly out of Sna without an “expansion”. The new MAX planes qualify for sna and do not require any longer runway.
CORRECTION: the 737Max7 may take off from sna…and swa has about 30 on order expected to arrive in 2019….so sna to hnl will likely be a reality in a year.
ItTs a weight issue. Yes, the 737-MAX can operate quite nicely out of SNA for most operations across the continent, but for overwater ops to Hawaii the 737 (any variant) has a problem. In order to make money in an extremely aggressive market, Southwest will need to pack them full. However, that adds a lot of weight and weight is at a premium flying to Hawaii, where there are no diversionary airfields along the way. And, this extra weight means that operating from SNA’s short runway becomes problematic – extra weight means a higher takeoff speed, and that short runway may not be long enough to allow the planes to reach those speeds.
Continental and Aloha tried Hawaii runs using the 737-800 and -700 models, respectively. They both had to block out some seats and offload bags and cargo to get the planes within acceptable weight limits to carry enough fuel to operate safely from SNA’s short runway. They essentially traded passengers and bags for fuel. What was surprising was that Aloha had to do so on their 737-700s, a smaller higher thrust to weight ratio model that should (in theory) have been able to operate the route much more easily.
Okay, so where does this leave Southwest and the 737-MAX? Essentially, in the same place. As stated, its a function of weight and the length of SNA’s runway. Can the MAX operate to Hawaii from SNA? Certainly. No problem. But, can it do so economically with a full load of passengers and cargo, thus maximizing revenue? That’s the issue. It would doubtless fare better than the -700 and -800 Next Gen models, but would it be enough to offset blocking out seats? I don’t know. I suspect that Southwest already knows the answer and the fact that SNA flights haven’t even been whispered about should be a strong indicator that they won’t happen. Even if flights to the island form SNA were profitable, Southwest could probably generate more revenue flying the 737-MAX fully loaded elsewhere on multiple shorter hops. Now, flights out of Ontario would be most welcome. It isn’t that long of a drive from Orange County, has a nice long runway where weight wouldn’t really be an issue, and is far preferable for many than the disaster that is LAX. Here’s hoping!
You conclusion is logically flawed.
You yourself admit that the enormously more efficient MAX7 might very well be able to fly with a “full load” from SNA to Hawaii. The available specifications online reinforce this theory beyond any reasonable doubt.
The only reason you cite as supportive of swa NOT flying out of sna to HI is the lack of any “whispers” of flights from sna to hi. That is extremely flawed logic.
For one, swa has yet to even start selling tickets to HI from ANYWHERE.
Secondly, the median income in and around the sna area is vastly higher than near any of the other SoCal airports and given the monumental pent-up demand in that area, sna could easily support a premium for the convenience.
Third, the MAX 7 & 8 have yet to even be made available for TESTING by swa much less allocated for specific routes. As was the case before the the current planes were made available for testing earlier this year, there were no “whispers” of Long Beach being a potential option for HI service, yet here we are today with it being a very likely option.
Given the above, your conclusion is flawed.
I see no good reason why sna would not be a PERFECT FIT for SWA to provide direct service to HI via the new MAX7’s in 2019.
Please fly from Salt lake to honolulu and iner island from Slc
Please fly interisland Hilo/Honolulu, people here in Hilo is very unhappy with Hawaiian airline service, also please fly ( Hilo to mainland routes R/T San Jose Oakland, San Francisco, Las Vegas etc.) people here in Hilo want South West airline to fly Hilo Hawaii. Thank you
This Oakland area passenger is ready to say Aloha !! I Love SWA!
Im Bummed that LAX and John Wayne SNA are not on the initial list of cities going to Hawaii. I think people in OC deserve it ahead of Sacramento???? TIred of having to deal with the crowds at LAX
SNA’s runway is too short to support Hawaii flights, at least for the plane type Southwest plans to fly to Hawaii (737-800 and 737MAX8).
What is your source for this info?
I thought the new 737Max8 and 800 could utilize the runway as-is.
CORRECTION: it was the 737-700 that would have been able to fly out of sna….not sure if swa has any on order.
Update: SWA has about 30 738Max7’s on order, which could easily takeoff from sna and have more than enough range to fly to hnl.
Unfortunately these 737Max7’s will not arrive until 2019…so the OV will need more patience….but there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Mark, I agree. We’ve haven’t seen low-cost direct flight options from Orange County (SNA) to the Islands since Aloha Airlines shutdown years ago. Southwest, there is a lot of pent up demand here in the OC. Please add SNA to your list.
Sacramento would be great for those flying in from the Pacific Northwest like Portland and Seattle
Wait….we only have 1 flight in and out of Sacramento daily. Hawaiian Airlines has the monopoly on the direct flight to Honolulu and charge $$$$. For once, Sacramento has the chance to do something first!
Mahalo to SWA!
I’m hearing their ETOPS approval is not a sure thing…they have had numerous emergency landings due to a structural failure of
some sort. Engine and fuselage components all with excessive wear and tear. SWA gets greater utilization out of their fleet then any other airline, high productivity beats up airframes. Their plane are riden hard and put away wet if you will. It’s one of the reasons they have been successful.
They just had another emergency landing due to a loss of cabin pressure. Not too serious if you are near land, very serious if you are over the middle of the Pacific, and if you are in a 737 which already just barely meets the fuel requirements for a flight to
Hawaii it could be very serious indeed.
Well if Allegiant can get ETOPS with their record and aging 757’s not sure why SWA couldn’t. The FAA can be a joke sometimes.
I just wanted to say I am very excited to see SWA flying to hawaii and compete with Hawaiian Airlines prices! I am originally from Hawaii now leaving in the mainland but I still have lots of family there, it’s very hard to fly back home when HA prices are too high. 1 incident that happened recently with SWA will not deter me from flying home if the price is right. Thank you for making it possible for affordability to fly back home.
Southwest has more flights in the US mainland than does United yet Southwest has had one fatality since 1972 and United has had over 200 fatalities since then. This does not count United 911 crashes and commuter crashes. Which one has the better record? Please do not bash Southwest for one unfortunate accident. You can verify this on line.