Southwest will launch eight new routes to and within Hawaii
in mid-January, including the carrier's first service to Kauai and its first
flights to Hilo on the island of Hawaii.
And, Sacramento will become the carrier's newest Hawaii
gateway from the U.S. mainland, joining Oakland and San Jose. Tickets for the
new routes are on sale.
Daily Sacramento-Honolulu flights on Southwest begin Jan.
19, bringing competition to a route that is presently flown only by Hawaiian,
according to the website Flight Connections.
Between Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, Southwest will begin flights
from both Oakland and San Jose to Kauai and Kona on the west side of the island
of Hawaii.
The carrier will also increase its interisland network from
two to five routes beginning Jan. 19. Service between Honolulu and Kauai as
well as between Honolulu and Hilo on the east coast of the island of Hawaii
will be flown four times daily -- another direct challenge to Hawaiian, which operates
numerous daily flights on the two routes. Southwest will also add daily service
between Kona and Maui.
Southwest launched its initial Hawaii service in March but
has delayed route additions due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.
However, the carrier said last month that it would pull out of Newark so that
it could put more aircraft into Hawaii.
Southwest has already said it plans to further expand its
California-Hawaii network to include San Diego. However, it announced no San
Diego routes on Thursday.