Southwest begins selling tickets to Hawaii, California-Kona flights start at $79

Southwest Airlines’ first commercial flight to Hawaii will arrive later this month after years of waiting.

The airline announced Monday that it will begin service to the state with an inaugural flight between Oakland, California, and Honolulu that will take off on March 17. A second inaugural flight, from Oakland to Kahului Airport in Maui, will take off April 7.

Both the Oakland-to-Kahului and Oakland-to-Honolulu flights will operate once daily in each direction the day after their respective inaugural flights, and will operate twice daily starting March 24 and April 10, respectively.

Shortly thereafter, Southwest will begin its interisland service with flights between Kahului and Honolulu beginning, followed by flights between Honolulu and Kona on May 12. Both interisland routes will operate four times daily in each direction.

Flights from San Jose will begin in May, with service to Honolulu beginning May 5 and to Kahului on May 26. Both routes will be flown once daily in both directions.

The airline also announced its introductory rates, with direct flights between California airports and Honolulu or Kahului until June 19 starting at $49 if purchased today or tomorrow. Interisland flights, if bought today or tomorrow, will start at $29 one-way until June 19.

Flights from Oakland or San Jose to Kona, connecting through Honolulu, will begin at $79 one-way until June 19, also if bought today or tomorrow.

“Hawaii, we’re in this for good,” said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly. “Mahalo from all 60,000 of us at Southwest for the warm aloha you’ve shared ahead of our arrival and please know how excited we are to share our Southwest Hospitality with you.”