Not sure why so many people are clamoring for Southwest to enter this market. Hawaiian Airlines is f

Southwest Hawaii flight plans almost remain to this day a secret. Classified information was let out of the bag last week and it appears certain that SWA will have flights to Hawaii. That s great news for future Hawaii vacation deals. With their flight crew and fleet of 737-800 planes ETOPS certified for over water service, and other factors we uncovered below, this Maxwell Smart thinks it s a sure thing.
On July 24, 2014 Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced plans for the airline s continued expansion. In regards to Hawaii, while more legwork is needed to commence Hawaii flights, he said it wouldn t take years to start flights to the islands.
2013-2014 company growth stopped. Southwest put a halt on expansion which is now set to resume in 2015. Their number of flights has actually decreased slightly while the number of seat miles has been flat. That is in large part because Southwest s acquisition of AirTran was more complicated than originally thought. AirTran 737 s they acquired had to be taken out of service to be revamped.
Allegiant Hawaii service entered our market and while not a major player, brought with them initial uncertainty as to broader Hawaii flight pricing. Southwest waited to see whether the discount carrier s entry would have any impact on the other airlines Hawaii ticket prices. Thereafter Allegiant did not have great success with the islands which may have caused further concern for Hawaii prospects.
Allegiant had no impact on diluting Hawaii ticket prices. In spite of the discount carrier s entry, prices from Hawaiian , Alaska and the other airlines have continued to rise. This is the best indication to Southwest that timing is or soon will be right for them to enter the Hawaii market.
SWA has what it takes to fly to Hawaii. Alaska Airlines uses the 737-800 aircraft for all its Hawaii Flights between SEA,PDX.SMF,OAK,SJC and SAN and winter time from ANC and BLI so there is no excuse for SWA not to come to Hawaii now if alaska can do it so can they and remember people in San Diego Alaska Airlines is the only airlines to serve Hawaii from SAN year round.
Not sure why so many people are clamoring for Southwest to enter this market. Hawaiian Airlines is far superior cruise reviews alaska in every way to every domestic carrier flying to Hawaii and their fares are very competitive on the non-stop routes. They are the only airline that uses wide body jets to Hawaii. 757s used by AA, DL and UA are bad enough but a 737 is just too small an aircraft for a 5 + hour overwater flight. The only thing that would make me want to fly another cruise reviews alaska airline to Hawaii is if they offered flights cruise reviews alaska on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. That would be interesting news.
I fly Southwest often for their cheap fares, but nothing beats a Hawaiian Airlines flight. I always fly Hawaiian when I go to Hawaii. You always feel the aloha spirit when you board on of their planes. The inflight entertainment with cultural features, complementary hot meals, and complementary rum punch really get you in the mood for vacation. That s why they are always rated #1. Plus they have great on-time arrival records and good customer service. When Southwest enters the Hawaii market, I hope Hawaiian flights drop in price and are just a competitive.
I would rather vacation someplace where planes are not being shot out of the sky. I surf, I love Hawaii we did go last year and used United. I look forward to Southwest to Hawaii. It would be the only Airline I would use.
SWA to Hawaii no matter from WHAT city will be welcome news to us. We are in the Midwest and always have to fly somewhere else for a connecting flight cruise reviews alaska anyway. Although SWA does fly out of our airport.
I was making plane reservations with SWA yesterday and mentioned to the gal helping me that the only time I hadn t flown SWA in recent years is when I went to Hawaii. She suddenly asked who I had flown with, when I had gone, was the trip personal or business, do I fly the route often Sounded a lot like routine marketing cruise reviews alaska questions. I told her I had heard rumors that SWA was going to be flying there soon since they had acquired over water certified planes. She blurted out, We can t wait much more either! We got a lot when we acquired Air Tran . Then she back pedaled to a more passive cruise reviews alaska tight lipped company line. Sounds like the reservation operators cruise reviews alaska have gotten a few service plan hints too. Interesting
I ll be so happy when Southwest offers flights to Hawaii. I m planning a trip to Hawaii in September 2015, my 10 year anniversary with my wife and I really want to fly southwest with my 86,000+ points. Can t wait. Come on Southwest. Please get it done before September 2015. Anywhere in Hawaii is fine with me.
Well, I currently live in Houston and will probably be moving to Dallas after college. However, as for being here in Houston, I love going to Hawaii (Maui in particularly) when my family and I go. However, cruise reviews alaska United Airlines is based here in Houston, it d be awesome and more convenient for me to be able to fly Southwest to Hawaii, I don t care where the connection would be, it d be sure to give United a run. I have one question though beat. If the service between LA/Oakland and Honolulu goes well, do you think it might be possible if they start flying to Kahului? Thank you
Trust me Beat of Hawaii I want this just as much as everyone else does. I flew the 737-800 to Hawaii for ATA Airlines and it s just not a great aircraft for the job. I wish we had 900ERs but I m guessing we will wait for us to be the launch customer for the MAX. I think it will com but in due time.
Yes we understand that 738 is very limited compared to the MAX or even 757. Anyone with an interest in Hawaii travel, resident cruise reviews alaska or visitor, is pretty desperate for any kind of relief such as the competition that we hope SWA might bring.
Whoever wrote this article did not do their research. For the 737-800 to fly to Hawaii in the Southwest current seat configuration cruise reviews alaska they would have to leave at least 2 rows empty because of fuel and weight restrictions for that distance over water .
That may well be the case and SWA could went until the new planes to come to Hawaii. It appears that they intended to fly to Hawaii with the 737-800 so some plan must have been in place for using that aircraft.
Beat of Hawaii you are incorrect again. Aloha was the first carrier to do ETOPS in the 737 and that was in 1986 and only from Honolulu to Christmas Islands which is just over 3 hours. Prior to that date they operated longer flights but in a DC 10 to which ETOPS was not applicable because it had 3 engines. cruise reviews alaska It wasn t until 2000 that they operated to the mainland with 180 minute approval.
Brian your response was perfect, you might hear an announcement next year but realistically it will be closer cruise reviews alaska to 2017 before the first flight to the island. Until then I will dream and keep my fingers crossed. Aloha
Well that s only correct if you are flying an aircraft like the B757 or larger where there are 5 or even 6 separate cruise reviews alaska sources of electrical power, 3 separate hydraulic power and 2 independent fuel crossed valves. There are a few more items but I won t bring those up. In the case of the B737 where there are only 3 sources of electric power including having to run the APU the entire cruise reviews alaska flight, only 2 sources of hydraulic power and only a singly fuel crossed valve it usually cruise reviews alaska takes at least double the amount cruise reviews alaska of input data to the FAA to escalate your program cruise reviews alaska from 120 minutes to 180 minutes ETOPS.
Yes the prices are high but the yields are extremely low so whenever fuel spikes you re operating at a loss. In the case of the B 737-800 where you usually cruise reviews alaska cannot fill the entire aircraft due to weight restrictions cruise reviews alaska it just doesn t make good business cruise reviews alaska sense.
I m sorry Beat of Hawaii but you are speculating just a little too much. Just because an airline acquired ETOPS certification does not mean they can fly to Hawaii. Yes we (SWA) did receive cruise reviews alaska our ETOPS certification however we do not have 180 minute ETOPS that Hawaii would require. 180 minute ETOPS means that if an engine fails there is a suitable airport for an alternative that we could fly to. Currently we are only certified for 120 minutes and that is a gigantic difference. The FAA will require that we prove maintenance reliability for quite awhile before they will bump that up so it s just Mexico and the Caribbean for now.
For those if you wishing for PHX good luck on a 737-800 for the simple fact that you ll run out of gas. You can t do that run legally. Allegiant utilized 757-200 which has a much longer range. Ditto then goes for MSP. For those asking ONT it s not going to happen. Not enough pax out of there. SNA? Sorry but with a 5700 foot runway I would be surprised if we could carry a half full plane with passengers.
Management is telling us now that Hawaii has been moved to the very far back burner and we will be concentrating on the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Maybe someday but since there s hardly any money in Hawaii I don t foresee it for quite some time.
Achieving 180 etops quickly is not an issue for swa. Timing of course cruise reviews alaska is and this doesn t appear to be the window of opportunity swa had anticipated. On the other hand Hawaii air prices are so high that it may attract other players.
I hate to disappoint, but I just did training today and met with leadership. We are focused on Latin America right now, Hawaii has dropped cruise reviews alaska way down the list on priorities. Trust me, I WISH it weren t true! Being OAK-based and not wanting to deal with the international nonsense to get to a tropical city. Unfortunately, SWA management feels that Hawaii is over-saturated cruise reviews alaska and we can reap the benefits by swooping in on certain cities that can be huge for our growth versus squeezing into Hawaii for some marginal growth. :/
If and when Southwest does start service to our lovely state they should seriously consider interisland service within Hawaii. With the recent departure of Mesa (Go! Airlines) that leaves only one airline with jet planes servicing the islan