Southwest has fully established its presence in Hawaii flights, but it hasn’t come without great challenges. There’s yet another round they’re now facing.
The latest news comes as Southwest marks exactly five years today since BOH editors were in Honolulu, marking the very first Southwest Hawaii flight to arrive from the mainland. And that flight too was long in coming, as we’d already been writing about their aspirations for about a decade. When they finally arrived, as you’ll recall, the airline was largely welcomed with open arms by Hawaii visitors and residents, as well as county and state officials who had courted Southwest Hawaii flights.
Southwest first added then cut Hawaii flights. Now even more cuts are on the table.
What’s coming next was referred to by Southwest last week in an SEC filing as “schedule re-optimization.” With that, the airline confirmed further cuts are coming to flights it will operate in 2024. The new term came from Southwest when they were asked about what flights they might soon cut. The company said, ““We don’t yet have anything to share about schedule re-optimization at specific airports we serve.”
21% fewer Hawaii-capable planes this year.
The SEC filing pointed to the next round of changes coming as a result of their diminished outlook for plane deliveries resulting from Boeing’s 737 MAX problems. The airline is reported to be receiving 42% fewer than the total of 79 new planes that it anticipated in 2024. Of that, 21% appear to be for planes arriving that are capable of Hawaii flights, the MAX 8 variant.
Southwest already cancelled about 50% of Hawaii flights since its heyday.
That occurred as the company continues to evolve a long-term niche in both interisland and mainland to Hawaii service. That evolution includes having moved to a seasonally or occasionally operated schedule instead of entirely year-round flights. That is in fact becoming more common across the entire industry, including at competitors Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.
Some of the Southwest flights flights returning this spring that will operate on a seasonal basis include LA to Kauai, LA to Kona, LA to Maui, Sacramento to Maui, and Long Beach to Maui.
The year-round Southwest Hawaii routes on the other hand include Las Vegas to and from Honolulu, Kauai, Kona and Maui, Long Beach and Oakland to Honolulu, Kauai, Kona and Maui, plus inter-island flights.
Staffing reductions are also on the table.
Southwest reported that its recruitment efforts have been halted across multiple departments, including at roles such as pilots and flight attendants, representing a recent shift in Southwest’s workforce plans. That will cause the airline to navigate through the operational implications, which will be revealed soon.
Southwest stock reflected these concerns, and was down nearly 17% this week.
On a more positive note, Southwest joined Hawaii Airlines in this unique initiative.
In a fascinating yet unrelated development, this week we revealed that Southwest has joined Hawaiian Air, United and others in an initiative with the potential to revolutionize Hawaii interisland travel over the next five years.
We welcome your input on changes coming to Southwest Hawaii flights.
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As a Flight Attendant I do not support this new way of traveling. My biggest concern is the wildlife and how it will be affected. Also we have so many freighters, fishing boats and cruise ships to deal with. The winds in Hawaii can be very unpredictable causing dangerous conditions.
Southwest – rarely the cheapest or best option, yet benefits in that people go directly to their site to their book….
Would be interesting to share the % of seats across carriers. Southwest and Alaska cover much of the same B list CA airports.
Posting this comment on a SWA flight (737 MAX8) from Lihue to Oakland, that is now being turned around to land in Honolulu due to some sort of malfunctioning navigation instrument (we cannot understand what the pilot is mumbling about).
Not sure if we are getting back to the mainland today …
Southwest has been a true life-saver for my family and I. Throughout the past few years I’ve needed to travel interisland for medical reasons and Hawaiian being very expensive, I’ve had to rely on Southwest. The service, flight times and price has been great and much appreciated. Please continue your amazing connection with the Hawaiian islands. P.s I only fly Southwest interisland now.
Southwest has the better drop off and Pickup schedule at OAK than Hawaiian Air which Hawaiian leave real early and arrive late at night at OAK Let’s say Hawaiian Air schedule are not best users friendly to the big island
Less an issue of decreased aircraft deliveries and recruiting and more in terms of forecasting decreasing future passenger traffic to Hawaii IMHO…
Best Regards
My first thought as well.
I’ve been coming to Hawaii for 52 years. Love the people, love the islands, but when you raised prices on every level, to a point where most of us think twice about coming over, everything and everyone suffers. Time for Hawaii to to take stock.
Such a kid glove report on your darling SW; you guys made a big stink when you reported HA stopping their daily OAK-OGG for a short period while failing to mention HA upgraded their OAK-HNL service to A330 wide bodies.
And don’t forget during 2020 covid, SW totally abandoned Hawaii, leaving all essential money losing flying to Hawaiian, both to and from the mainland and interisland. Because they Are Hawaiin.
SW will face more operational challenges this year than they have revealed so far.
Without adding any additional ETOPs aircraft, Southwest has more than enough in the current mix of MAX8 and -800’s to maintain and even grow Hawai’i service.
That’s probably not true. Southwest cannot simply take some of their existing aircraft and use them on Hawaii flights. The manufacturers certify the aircraft ETOPS compliant, not the airlines. This means that not only the engines must meet strict reliability standards, but they (Boeing, Airbus, et. al.) need to add extra redundancy for certain systems, such as electrical, hydraulics, fire suppression, and communications. For Southwest to retrofit existing non-ETOPS planes to make them ETOPS compliant would be prohibitively expensive.
Four of us are not happy with Southwest as we booked direct flights a few months ago and both have now been changed to connections with change of planes. SW should be offering some sort of compensation for canceling direct flights.
Hi Janet.
We sure understand the frustration. Airlines do not compensate you so long as they can still take you from your point of origin to your destination.
Aloha.
Yup and you gotta hustle for good seats twice.
Agree. SWA twice has canceled my nonstop (more accurate term than direct) flights from LAX-OGG with delayed or no notification. I finally gave up and booked on Hawaiian. Fortunately I had booked Southwest with points so I didn’t have to bank funds. Notwithstanding BOH reporting, I have not seen SWA reestablish that route nonstop.
I’m looking to book travel to Maui and the Big Island late this summer and I noticed HNL appears to be the only direct route Southwest still flies to from LAX. It seems they’re focusing more on Oakland and Phoenix, but at least they’ve maintained LGB-OGG as a direct flight. Long Beach is a far more pleasant experience than LAX if you can swing it.
Hawaiian can get you LAX-OGG-KOA-LAX on a single ticket. Daily.