Watch out, Hawaiian! Your fortress, profit-making routes are increasingly under fire. Especially since Southwest announces Hawaii-Las Vegas routes, but that’s just the beginning. The airline also announced several other new routes will see boosts in frequencies.
Southwest has had quite a journey in fulfilling its Hawaii ambitions. First, they had to contend with ETOPS certification challenges. Then came the unexpected grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX – the aircraft Southwest planned on leaning on for its Hawaii service. And, finally, came the pandemic. But, with travel slowly opening back up and 737 MAXes re-entering service, Southwest is ready to push its way more into the Hawaii market.
Hawaii-Las Vegas Routes
For a long time, Hawaiian enjoyed a monopoly flying between Hawaii and Las Vegas. True, Vacations Hawaii flies charter flights between Honolulu and Vegas regularly, but Hawaiian was the only scheduled service. More recently, they added flights between Maui and Vegas too. But, Southwest is coming in and attacking Hawaiian’s Las Vegas market with a sledgehammer. Why do I say this? Because Southwest is launching six flights between Hawaii and the Ninth Island. That compares to Hawaiian’s four flights.
So, what does Southwest’s Hawaii-Las Vegas look like? Well, They’re flying twice per day between its Honolulu-Vegas and Kahului-Vegas routes. All other routes will operate once daily.
Honolulu – Begins June 6, 2021
- 942 HNL-LAS departing at 7:10 am and arriving at 3:55 pm
- 958 LAS-HNL departing at 8:20 am and arriving at 11:40 am
- 4813 HNL-LAS departing at 3:15 pm and arriving at 12:10 am
- 1168 LAS-HNL departing at 6:15 pm and arriving at 9:35 pm
Kahului – Begins June 27, 2021
- 1167 OGG-LAS departing at 7:00 am and arriving at 3:35 pm
- 4982 LAS-OGG departing at 8:40 am and arriving at 11:50 am
- 3671 OGG-LAS departing at 1:40 pm and arriving at 10:20 pm
- 921 LAS-OGG departing at 4:50 pm and arriving at 8:00 pm
Kona – Begins September 7, 2021
- 1652 KOA-LAS departing at 8:00 am and arriving at 4:40 pm
- 1952 LAS-KOA departing at 5:55 pm and arriving at 9:20 pm
Lihue – Begins September 8, 2021
- 3868 LIH-LAS departing at 7:55 am and arriving at 4:40 pm
- 1270 LAS-LIH departing at 5:00 pm and arriving at 8:35 pm
While all of these flights will eventually operate daily, the Kona route will initially operate only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. In contrast, the Lihue route will initially operate only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Hawaii-Los Angeles
This is one of the busiest routes between Hawaii and the West Coast. Every major US-based airline that flies between California and Hawaii operates on this route. What’s more, most airlines have multiple frequencies per day as well. But, more competition is always welcome, and Southwest is bringing lots of it.
Honolulu – Begins June 6 and increases to twice-daily on June 27, 2021
Flights beginning June 6 operate as:
- 851 HNL-LAX departing at 7:20 am and arriving at 3:50 pm
- 3851 LAX-HNL departing at 5:25 pm and arriving at 8:05 pm
After June 27, the schedule changes to:
- 3486 HNL-LAX departing at 7:30 am and arriving at 4:00 pm
- 4591 LAX-HNL departing at 9:50 am and arriving at 12:50 pm
- 4592 HNL-LAX darting at 4:25 pm and arriving at 12:55 am
- 609 LAX-HNL departing at 5:35 pm and arriving at 8:30 pm
Kahului – Begins June 6, 2021
- 2535 OGG-LAX departing at 8:15 am and arriving at 4:30 pm
- 1222 LAX-OGG departing at 7:30 am and arriving at 10:05 am
- 2087 OGG-LAX departing at 11:20 am and arriving at 7:40 pm
- 1226 LAX-OGG departing at 11:30 am and arriving at 2:05 pm
- 1227 OGG-LAX departing at 3:20 pm and arriving at 11:35 pm
- 1516 LAX-OGG departing at 6:00 pm and arriving at 8:35 pm
Kona – Begins June 27, 2021
- 465 LAX-KOA departing at 8:05 am and arriving at 10:35 pm
- 1211 KOA-LAX departing at 11:50 am and arriving at 8:15 pm
Lihue – Begins June 27, 2021
- 144 LIH-LAX departing at 12:35 pm and arriving at 9:10 pm
- 145 LAX-LIH departing at 8:30 am and arriving at 11:20 am
Hawaii-Phoenix
In terms of competition, Phoenix lands between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. At the moment, only two airlines operate between Arizona and Hawaii – Hawaiian and American. I had the misfortune of flying between PHX and HNL on a pmUS American 757. BLEH. Thankfully, they’ve since changed to an A320neo, while Hawaiian now operates an A330 on the route. Southwest, naturally, operates all Boeing 737s and will operate the following schedule:
Honolulu – Begins June 27, 2021
- 4538 HNL-PHX departing at 7:00 am and arriving at 4:00 pm
- 1807 PHX-HNL departing at 8:55 am and arriving at 12:35 pm
- 449 HNL-PHX departing at 1:50 pm and arriving at 11:10 pm
- 1237 PHX-HNL departing at 5:25 pm and arriving at 8:55 pm
Kahului – Begins June 27, 2021
- 1840 PHX-OGG departing at 10:00 am and arriving at 1:25 pm
- 1837 OGG-PHX departing at 2:40 pm and arriving at 11:30 pm
Kona – Begins September 7, 2021
- 123 KOA-PHX departing at 8:00 am and arriving at 4:55 pm
- 1560 PHX-KOA departing at 6:10 pm and arriving at 9:55 pm
Lihue – Begins September 7, 2021
- 2790 LIH-PHX departing at 7:55 am and arriving at 4:55 pm
- 2081 PHX-LIH departing at 5:30 pm and arriving at 9:15 pm
Flights between Lihue and Phoenix operate nonstop on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays until going daily on Sept. 7, 2021. On the other hand, the flights between Kona and Phoenix operate nonstop on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, until increasing to daily service on Sept. 7, 2021. Service is offered round trip.
Hawaii-San Diego
Southwest already operates between San Diego and Honolulu. So, this isn’t brand new territory for the airline. Rather, it’s an expansion of their service. That means They’re doubling their Honolulu service and are adding flights to all the other islands.
Honolulu – Begins June 6, 2021
- 4621 SAN-HNL departing at 7:45 am and arriving at 10:55 am
- 4567 HNL-SAN departing at 9:15 am and arriving at 5:45 pm
- 4618 HNL-SAN departing at 2:05 pm and arriving at 10:40 pm
- 4568 SAN-HNL departing at 7:00 pm and arriving at 10:10 pm
Kahului – Begins June 6, 2021
- 4619 SAN-OGG departing at 7:15 am and arriving at 10:25 am
- 4611 OGG-SAN departing at 7:30 am and arriving at 3:50 pm
- 4605 OGG-SAN departing at 3:00 pm and arriving 11:25 pm
- 4612 SAN-OGG departing at 5:05 pm and arriving at 8:00 pm
Kona – Begins June 27, 2021
- 4626 SAN-KOA departing at 10:05 am and arriving at 1:30 pm
- 4627 KOA-SAN departing at 2:45 pm and arriving at 11:15 pm
Lihue – Begins June 29, 2021
- 4623 SAN-LIH departing at 7:30 am and arriving at 10:55 am
- 4624 LIH-SAN departing at 12:10 pm and arriving at 8:40 pm
Kona to San Diego launches as a four-times-weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, while Lihue to San Diego launches with thrice-weekly service on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Both flights increase to daily on September 7, 2021.
Kahului-San Jose
Southwest’s Kahului-San Jose is getting a boost to two flights daily beginning on June 6, 2021. Those flights include:
- 2139 SJC-HNL departing at 7:45 am and arriving at 10:05 am
- 1085 HNL-SJC departing at 10:40 am and arriving at 6:30 pm
- 1850 SJC-HNL departing at 12:45 pm and arriving at 3:05 pm
- 1268 HNL-SJC departing at 1:10 pm and arriving at 9:00 pm
Seasonal Increases
Honolulu is seeing a bump in frequencies to two California cities. Beginning June 27 through September 6, 2021, Honolulu-Long Beach is doubling in service to two flights per day:
- 891 LGB-HNL departing at 7:10 am and arriving at 9:55 pm
- 937 HNL-LGB departing at 8:05 am and arriving at 4:35 pm
- 1665 HNL-LGB departing at 12:55 pm and arriving at 9:25 pm
- 940 LGB-HNL departing at 5:50 pm and arriving at 8:35 pm
Prior to this, LGB-HNL operates daily departing at 7:50 am and arriving at 10:40 am, and HNL-LGB departing at 11:55 am and departing at 8:25 pm.
The other Honolulu-California route seeing a seasonal boost is Oakland. This route currently operates twice daily including:
- 758 HNL-OAK departing at 9:35 am and arriving at 5:50 pm
- 808 OAK-HNL departing at 10:30 am and arriving at 1:05 pm
- 1679 HNL-OAK departing at 2:20 pm and arriving at 10:30 pm
- 1683 OAK-HNL departing at 5:10 pm and arriving at 7:45 pm
As of June 6 and running through September 6, 2021, the Honolulu-Oakland route is seeing a boost to thrice daily service, including:
- 5575 OAK-HNL departing at 7:20 am and arriving at 9:50 am
- 941 HNL-OAK departing at 7:30 am and arriving at 3:35 pm
- 2926 HNL-OAK departing at 11:05 am and arriving at 7:10 pm
- 808 OAK-HNL departing at 11:55 am and arriving at 2:25 pm
- 134 HNL-OAK departing at 3:55 pm and arriving at 12:05 pm
- 243 OAK-HNL departing at 5:25 pm and arriving at 7:55 pm
Rationale
Flying from every island to Las Vegas with multiple frequencies in the case of Honolulu and Kahului may seem counter-intuitive. There can’t be that much demand, right? And, indeed, Southwest isn’t relying solely on passengers originating and terminating in Las Vegas. They’re actually launching these routes, as well as those from Phoenix, to provide more connecting options for those that live further east. You see, right now, only 23 cities as far east as Denver can connect on to Hawaii. But, according to EVP & CCO Andrew Watterson, moving forward, connecting cities will expand to 45 going as far east as Nashville, Tennessee.
That makes you wonder, though, if Southwest can only connect as far east as Nashville, how will they eventually serve the East Coast? Does that mean more frequencies on existing routes in the future? Or will we see more entirely new route from Southwest? Or maybe a combination of both? Only time will tell.
Southwest Announces Hawaii-Las Vegas Routes, Final Thoughts
Wow, this ended up being a BEAST of a post. But, there was a lot of information to cover here. Now, while Southwest’s intent with some of these new routes is to provide enhanced connectivity, I know many Hawaii residents are cheering the addition of their new Las Vegas service. As I mentioned earlier, Hawaiian has long enjoyed a monopoly on the route, leading to exceptionally high fares. But with a solid competitor about to begin operating between Hawaii and Vegas, Hawaiian can’t do that anymore. I mean, they could if they can convince people that the premium is worth it. If they can’t, though, they’ll need to lower their fares. And from a consumer standpoint, that’s fantastic!
I’m sure Hawaiian isn’t so thrilled about this new competition, though. It will make it harder for them to return to profitability, especially since its Vegas routes are among their most robust right now. But, Hawaiian smartly hedged against this by launching direct service to places like BOS, MCO, and AUS. So, it’ll be interesting to see what Hawaiian does next – especially when they start putting their 787s into service. Show us what you’ve got, Peter Ingram!
How do Southwest’s prices compare to Hawaiian, you ask? Sit tight. I’m working on another post for that since this one is far too long as is!