Southwest Airlines shared this morning more details about the carrier’s service plans for Hawaii by announcing initial gateway cities in California that will offer nonstop service pending required regulatory approvals. They are Oakland Metropolitan Airport (OAK), San Diego International Airport (SAN), Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Sacramento International Airport (SMF). All will have Hawaii service in the carrier’s flight schedules pending authorization by the Federal Aviation Administration for Southwest to serve Hawaii.
Last week, Southwest announced initial plan to serve four Hawaii airports: Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu (HNL), Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (KOA), Kahului Airport on Maui (OGG) and Lihue Airport on Kauai (LIH).
In the latest of a two-year series of community meetings across the Islands to gain insight ahead of potential service, Southwest President Tom Nealon this morning shared details of today’s announcement with tourism, civic, and government leaders and further shared the carrier’s intention to eventually offer some interisland flights as operations ramp up initially across four airports in Hawaii.
“The way we plan to serve Hawaii requires us to share these initial details now so that our facilities in the airports will be ready for all that we intend to offer,” Nealon told those assembled in Waikiki. “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.”
A more detailed version of this story will appear in Friday’s Tribune-Herald.