Earlier this week I wrote about Southwest’s plans on starting service to 4 different Hawaiian Islands. At that time there was still no information on where these non-stop flights would fly from within the continental US, but we know have that information!
Hot off the press from Southwest, they will fly from Oakland (OAK), San Diego (SAN), San Jose (SJC), and Sacramento (SMF). This is great for almost all of California as it covers all major cities and most of the state is relatively close to one of these four airports. And as a reminder, Southwest will fly to these four Hawaiian Islands: Honolulu (HNL), Maui (OGG), Kauai (LIH), and Kona (KOA).
Of course there is still no definite date on when service will start, but they did state that they are still “on-track with our plans to sell tickets this year.” They just still need to receive final FAA approval to operate between the mainland and the islands. That still doesn’t confirm that they will actually be flying in 2018, but I really hope so. My gut says that they will be able to pull it together, although it might not be till towards the end of the year.
Fingers crossed for Southwest to start flying to Hawaii soon! I know that those who live in California are very excited about this progress! And for those who can fly non-stop to one of those for destinations and then continue onto Hawaii will be very happy as well. Unfortunately, for those on the East Coast, most destinations require 2 layovers to get to Hawaii and might not even be possible due to red-eyes, etc.
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Any mention as to which CA city will serve which HI city?
@Patrick – Unfortunately they still have not yet announced/figured it out.
@Patrick, yes, it is mentioned in the article as:
Hawaii: OFF, HNL, KOA, LIH
mainland: SFM, OAK, SAN, SJC
also “At that time there was still no information on where these non-stop flights would fly from within the continental US, but we know have that information!”
I take that to mean…OGG and SMF, as well as “we now have that information!”
ha ha ha
This is hilarious. I live in Santa Barbara, California a minimum of 4 hours from each of these airports…they couldn’t have made it harder if they tried for us..oh well, SB is pretty nice too 🙂
@betheball – I’d take Santa Barbara as a vacation destination any day!
Good news. They will have to fight directly against Alaska airlines and Hawaiian airlines.
Maui is OGG, Sacramento is SMF.
I wouldn’t necessarily say San Diego covers LA, given how sprawling LA is and how bad the traffic can be – it’s usually a 2 hour drive without traffic – but I would say this is great for Northern California.
@Greg – Definitely great for Northern California. And for LA folks, I know San Diego isn’t super close, but a 2 hour drive to get a possibly discounted fare and to be able to use your companion pass is worth it (in my books!).
Thanks for the info. I think there are two typos: Sacramento (SFM) should be SMF; Maui (OFF) should be OGG.
“most of the state is relatively close to one of these four airports”
I think you might need to place a bit more emphasis on that “relatively close” phrase. lol