Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) has announced its initial Hawaii network will include Oakland International, San Diego International, San José, US, and Sacramento International in California, as well as Honolulu, Kahului, Lihue, and Kona. The carrier plans to launch ticket sales this year, although the specific timeline is still pending regulatory approvals.
"We're on-track with our plans to sell tickets this year and are respectfully engaged in the process to receive FAA authorization to operate between the mainland and the Islands," President Tom Nealon has said during a community meeting in Waikiki.
The carrier is hoping it may be able to commence flights to Hawaii towards the end of 2018, although this may just as well happen only in 2019.
"We sure want to be able to fly this year. It just really depends upon the ETOPS certification. I think what you'll see is part of the ETOPS certification is you can't start with a full schedule. You have to kind of grow your way into it and demonstrate proficiency with the FAA and that kind of thing. So I think the back half of the year, late in the year, I would love for us to be flying Hawaii," Nealon said during the recent quarterly earnings call on April 26.
The LCC is likely to start operations to Hawaii on a smaller scale and ramp them up over some time. This would be due to both regulatory, ETOPS-related concerns, as well as commercial considerations.
Southwest Airlines is set to become the maiden American low-cost carrier serving Hawaii. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the largest carriers in the Pacific state by capacity are currently Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines. Allegiant Air (G4, Las Vegas Harry Reid) previously served the market but pulled out the market completely in 2017.
