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.
Breaking News: No Service or Water: What These Southwest Hawaii Flights Are Losing.
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.
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It is sad to hear that Southwest is cutting back on interisland. I think the mistake they made here was not setting up a base for interisland flights in the islands.
That said, with their retreat from the market, it only means that the Alaska-Hawaiian cabal will certainly increase prices for interisland travel leaving many people to just stay in place.
I previously expressed my personal desire for Southwest to maintain daytime flights and establish nonstop service from Maui to Denver.
I am baffled by SW business plan adjustment. An 8am Maui departure will arrive at Denver by 5pm local time enabling late afternoon and early afternoon connections anywhere in the country.
With the Denver recent expansion, SW controls 40 gates. Denver is the largest hub in the SW network, and is 3rd busiest airport in the US, greater than LAX and O’hare. Denver is the elephant in the room and seems impossible to ignore, while opening many US markets to Hawaii.
I am not impressed with Elliot’s contributions to the SW business plan.
I do not think 737 can make Denver
That is the case with the 737 700, and SW could not include Denver in the initial Hawaiian service expansion launch. However, the 800 has sufficient range, but the 800 experienced FAA grounding. Meanwhile, the United nonstop to Maui occasionally uses the 800 demonstrating that range is feasible.
Finally karma has bitten Hawaii. Make comments like the referencing Southwest Airlines as the shark and see what happens. Hawaii seems to always bite the hand that feeds them. Same story as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Let Alaska airlines denote the price inter-island fares that islanders will be forced to pay. Smart move Hawaii keep it up.
It was Southwest that referred to themselves as the shark in relation to Hawaiian and Alaska. Perhaps you missed that.
Thanks Peter F for correcting my comment. That changes my perspective. I don’t really think every airline can accomodate every persons doctor appointment hour to hour. It would seem the patient needs to plan their appointments in regards to the airlines departure schedules. All in All the airlines make the final call. Data will show the peak occupancy times during the day in which everyone fights for. .
Don you have a very disrespectful attitude towards Hawaiian obviously but also to Hawaii in general. Yours is the attitude that is simply not appreciated here and frankly reflects what SWA brought here when they entered the market. It’s one of the reasons why they did so poorly in Hawaii and are struggling. Newcomers coming to Hawaii and throwing stones are simply not appreciated.
We are always at the whim of these airlines. Pure and simple. And in our state where there is no other way to even get to the doctor.
I get it. But I guess the price of paradise has limitations.
This was long doomed. SW threw a ton of money at it and hoped it would work.
The changes reflect the overcapacity on interisland flights, along with the continued operation of Southwest from the Central Concourse. This location is more time-consuming for passengers to access from the ticket counter compared to Hawaiian flights. A similar situation occurred in the 1980s with Mid Pacific Airlines, which petitioned for and eventually secured space at the interisland terminal to operate its flights. While it’s unlikely that this will happen again, as Hawaiian and Alaska are likely to protect their gate access, it still affects Southwest. The situation may improve once Southwest can fly the Max-7 aircraft to the islands. This would reduce seat capacity on some routes and potentially make the interisland market more profitable.
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.
Looking back over the last 50 years how many interisland carriers have come and go? Quite a few. People want bus service fairs and solid frequency. Just not possible, nor practical.
Maybe Alaska can find a solid way to make money and keep the interisland solvent.
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!
Prepare yourselves for 200$ roundtrip fares for inter island flights!
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?