Southwest plans to fly interisland

LIHUE – Kauai residents will soon have another option to choose from when planning their interisland travel.

Southwest Airlines has announced that it intendeds to serve Hawaii non-stop, from California airports, including Oakland, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento, and will also be offering interisland flights.

The company is currently awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“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 intended to offer,” said Southwest president Tom Nealon. “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.”

In the latest of a two-year series of community meetings across the islands to gain insight ahead of potential service, Nealon shared details of the announcement with tourism, civic and government leaders Thursday and further shared the carriers intention to eventually offer some interisland flights, as operations ramp up initially, across airports in Hawaii.

Recently, Nealon said he purchased an interisland ticket and that it was very expensive, stating the airline will come in with lower and introductory fares.

Currently, Hawaiian Airlines dominates the interisland market, with more than a 90 percent share, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Island Air offered interisland flights through November 2017, when the company closed.

Mokulele is the only other company that offers daily flights between most Hawaiian Islands, but only offers direct flights from Kona to Oahu, Maui and Molokai. The company also operates a once a week direct flight between the Kamuela-Waimea airport in Waimea and Kahului on Maui.

Southwest representatives said that when the company enters a market, prices historically come down in part, because of the airline’s policy of no bag fees and no change fees.

Southwest representatives did not respond to questions from TGI reporters before deadline on Friday.

The airline’s initial plan is to serve four airports: Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Kahului Airport on Maui, Lihue Airport on Kauai and the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole, on the leeward side of the Big Island.

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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, can be reached at 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com. The Associated Press contributed to this article.