Southwest Airlines has revealed significant changes to its Hawaii service, signaling a major and now long-awaited shift in strategy. Starting April 8, 2025, the airline will reduce its interisland flights by as much as 30% on key routes. These cuts are part of the first sweeping adjustment in interisland and mainland-Hawaii schedules, with some routes eliminated, others scaled back, and a few expanded.
While Southwest once sought to disrupt Hawaii’s interisland market along with mainland flights, and these reductions mark a clear retreat. Hawaiian Airlines, with its dedicated interisland fleet, strong market share, and ownership under behemoth Alaska Airlines’ wings, stands poised to benefit as Southwest adjusts its island focus.
Cuts begin April 8, 2025.
The busiest route in Hawaii and one of the most trafficked in the entire U.S., Honolulu to Maui (HNL-OGG), will see the most significant reduction. Flights will drop from 11 to 8 daily, about a 30 percent decrease. Key interisland routes will also see cuts, including Honolulu to Lihue (HNL-LIH) and Honolulu to Kona (HNL-KOA), which are reduced from 6 to 5 daily flights.
Some interisland flights, such as Lihue to Maui (LIH-OGG) and Honolulu to Hilo (HNL-ITO), remain unchanged at 1 and 3 daily flights, respectively.
Southwest entered the interisland market in 2019, delivering lower fares and competition against Hawaiian’s monopoly. However, its high costs and complexity of operating interisland routes, failure to engage in popularity, and simply evolving travel patterns may all have combined to make this ambitious plan unsustainable.
Hawaiian Airlines, combined with Alaska, which operate about half of all Hawaii flights, appears to be the clear winner as Southwest reduces its presence, in what will likely not be their last changes for Hawaii.
Southwest Mainland-Hawaii flight focus shifts to Las Vegas and San Jose.
Southwest is reshaping its mainland-Hawaii routes, focusing on connecting Hawaii with key markets like Las Vegas (LAS) and San Jose (SJC), while cutting back on lower-performing routes. Las Vegas to Honolulu (LAS-HNL) flights will increase from 2 to 3 daily starting June 5, 2025, and Maui to San Jose (OGG-SJC) flights will rise from twice weekly to five times weekly.
Other routes are seeing changes. Los Angeles to Kona (LAX-KOA) flights will drop from 5 to 2 weekly in summer 2025, while Sacramento to Kona (SMF-KOA) is reintroduced as a seasonal daily service. Honolulu to Oakland (HNL-OAK) flights will be cut from 2 to 1 daily, with speculation it could be eliminated. Meanwhile, routes like Maui to Long Beach (OGG-LGB) and Kona to Oakland (KOA-OAK) will be eliminated entirely. Hat tip to AeroRoutes which first noted the SW Hawaii schedule update.
“This shift in mainland-to-Hawaii flights in some ways mirrors the strategy that has long worked for Alaska Airlines, emphasizing direct-to-island routes. Maintaining a robust interisland network has proven unsustainable for Southwest, and even its own investors noted the need for a culling after failing to engage effectively.” — Beat of Hawaii.
What’s driving these Southwest Hawaii route changes?
Southwest’s initial Hawaii strategy was highly ambitious, even for them, targeting both mainland and interisland markets. However, the realities of operating in Hawaii, including high costs, competitive pressures, and unique culture, appear to have prompted this latest recalibration. The airline now seems to be leaning into its clear strengths, focusing on direct flights from mainland focus cities.
Las Vegas and San Jose are the key markets for Southwest’s future in Hawaii. As we have predicted, these cities are becoming pivotal hubs for connecting Hawaii travelers with increased frequency and new routes. Conversely, other routes like Oakland and Los Angeles are being scaled back or could be cut entirely, reflecting shifting demand and operational priorities.
BOH takeaways on the Southwest updates.
These changes signal that Southwest remains far from settling into a steady role in Hawaii. Interisland flights, once a cornerstone of its island strategy, are beginning to scale back in favor of a more streamlined model. With these cuts, Southwest’s Hawaii operations increasingly focus on solid mainland connections rather than competing head-to-head with Hawaiian Airlines interisland.
For travelers, these adjustments mean less availability for interisland flights and the distinct potential for price increases as competition decreases. Meanwhile, as Las Vegas and San Jose become increasingly important in the Southwest network for mainland to Hawaii visitors, more options and connections will be forthcoming.
We believe Southwest still has more changes in store as it continually evaluates profitability and market conditions. For now, however, Southwest’s Hawaii strategy appears to be shifting toward a winning combination of sustainability and profitability while leaving behind some of its earlier “shark-like” ambitions.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Very unfortunate to have less competition. However, people don’t understand how hard it is to run an interisland jet service. HAL barley makes money flying interisland. You barely scrape a profit after fuel, maintenance, labor, and other associated costs. My understanding is that many flights even operate at a loss. Can’t imagine how much WN is losing on their half-empty flights while beating up their airframes with landing gear, airframe, and engine cycles. I bet HAL would be perfectly fine not having an interisland operation if they had the choice. Hopefully Alaska can figure something out.
It’s now up to Hawaii’s business’, politicians and news organizations to get busy and promote Hawaii’s tourism business. The airlines will provide all the competitive lift HI needs if there’s demand. They facilitate the demand but the Hawaiians (including the residents) have to create it (and stop destroying it). It’s time for everyone that benefits from tourism in the islands to understand that the life of the golden goose is in their hands. Not the airlines’.
The interisland reduction is sure to be a bummer for our family! We live Maui and have two kids who go to college in Honolulu.
Hawaiian Airlines must be thrilled with this. Without competition, they’ll have a hold on interisland fares. Not great for those of us who live here!
Selfishly I’m happy to see more flights to Vegas. It’s my go-to, and Southwest works great.
Honestly, Southwest had way too many flights with empty seats on routes that Hawaiian already dominated. These cuts feel like the airline finally being realistic.
Southwest cutting flights is frustrating, but Hawaiian Airlines is often too pricey for residents. I’m worried we’ll see fares increase again to the stratosphere.
This was inevitable. Interisland flying is expensive to run, and Southwest never seemed fully committed. Hawaiian Airlines clearly knows this market better.
I think Southwest’s focus on Las Vegas and San Jose makes sense. They should stick to what they do best. We live in Vegas and they make Hawaii easy.
Horrible decision for interisland. Literally, all they had to do was fill timeslot gaps that Hawaiian was missing. Competing on routes with only 5-10 min variance with the majority of locals flying HA with status (ie, free upgrades, etc) wasn’t going to win SWA flyers. Those without status or needed a specific time window is who SWA lacked focus on.
Shortsighted.
I’ve flown Southwest interisland many times now, and it was great to have a low-cost driving option. These cuts are disappointing—will we be left with no real competition for Hawaiian Airlines again?