Southwest Update
Southwest Hawaii flights should be in the air within 60 days. The company now hopes to sell tickets in February for flights starting the following month. There’s just one big caveat, that the government and its FAA remain open for business. Flights were to be cleared for takeoff this month (January) before the federal government shutdown prevented their obtaining final approval.
SWA Community Outreach Director Laura Nieto: “Our hope would be to be able to sell by the end of February and potentially fly in March.” (1/29/19)
The above shows just how fast and fluid the situation is for Southwest Hawaii flights. Last week’s comments before the reopening were as follows:
SWA COO Mike Van de Ven: The company has only a “reasonable chance” to start Hawaii flights this quarter due to the shutdown. A March start would only be possible in the event the shutdown ends in the next week (which it did). “Otherwise, it will actually be in the second quarter.” (1/24/19)
SWA CEO Gary Kelly: “Our remaining work is currently suspended until the government reopens and the FAA is allowed to resume normal certification activities…. We are anxious for the government to resolve this shutdown so we can bring low fares and a boost to Hawaii’s travel and tourism industry.” (1/24/19)
Beat of Hawaii’s take:
We remain hopeful that flights will start in time for spring break. Southwest had previously planned to be flying to the islands in time for the high-priced holiday season that just passed. That didn’t happen, which then brought them to starting in time for spring break (March). Then the shutdown occurred, throwing schedules into limbo.
Entering the market during a peak period such as March is highly desirable in terms of attaining somewhat higher airfares. Starting in an already low cost season (mid-April to early June) doesn’t really make a lot of sense economically.
Should anything goes wrong with the current plan to fly in March, whether it be a certification issue or related to the federal government, the next desirable time for Southwest to begin flights would be in June.
I also found this article:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/southwest-paid-for-faa-inspector-during-shutdown-2019-01-29
"Southwest Airlines Co. benefited from an unusual deal with federal aviation regulators during the recent partial government shutdown: The carrier agreed to cover the cost of briefly recalling a furloughed safety inspector to sign off on putting three new jets into service."
Sounds like they're trying to get into the air just as much as we want to them to be there.