Southwest Airlines To Fly To Hawaii In 2018

Plans are underway for Southwest Airlines to offer flights to Hawaii starting sometime in 2018…

By kmvq on October 12, 2017

Sunset with palm tree and airplane silhouettes (credit: Thinkstock)

HONOLULU, HI (997 NOW) – Plans are underway for Southwest Airlines to offer flights to Hawaii starting sometime in 2018.

The announcement was made in a joint address to the thousands of Southwest employees by Hawaii’s governor David Ige and Tom Nealon, Southwest Airlines’ President, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The airline just needs to start the public application process to get FAA certification that will allow Southwest to operate between Hawaii and the mainland. Airline officials has not indicated which cities will have connections to islands. Nor the possibility of flying between islands.

According to the Associated Press, Southwest’s Chief Revnue Officer Andrew Watterson says they cannot confirm a date of when their planes can fly over the Pacific, because it depends on when they get the certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“We know we’ll get through the FAA process in time to sell tickets next year, but until the FAA gives us better indications of the authorization timeline, we’re not going to speculate and put a date out there,” Watterson says. “This has been a long time coming so there’s no particular reason for us to rush it.”

The Dallas-based airline currently flies out of all the major airports in the Bay Area, SFO, Oakland and Minetta San Jose Airport.