SWA One step closer to Hawaii Island Flights

Southwest Airlines will conduct a validation flight to Hawaii this week, as it continues to work towards certification to begin passenger service to the islands.



The Dallas-based carrier plans to operate a "long-range navigation and communication validation flight" between Oakland and Honolulu with a Boeing 737-800 on 5 February, it tells FlightGlobal. The flight follows completion of long-range navigation tabletop exercises, it adds.
The exercises and validation flight are part of the US Federal Aviation Administration's required extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS) certification, something Southwest needs before it can begin scheduled service to Hawaii.

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Southwest began the ETOPS certification process in early 2018 with an aim of beginning ticket sales by year-end. That target has slipped into this year and was further delayed by the partial US government shutdown that ended in January.
The airline plans to offer flights between Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose, and Honolulu, Kahului, Kona and Lihue when service begins.
Following a successful validation flight, Southwest must conduct tabletop exercises of its full ETOPS procedures and then conduct more validation flights before the FAA will authorize it to begin Hawaii flights, the airline says.

Update...SWA Cleared for Hawaii! Most routes already sold out

Boeing 737-800 aircraft will operate these new routes.

HNL– OGG 4/28/19 4x daily

HNL– KOA 5/12/19 4x daily

OAK – HNL 3/17/19 1x daily, 2x daily from 3/24/19

OAK– OGG 4/7/19 1x daily, 2x daily from 4/10/19

SJC – HNL 5/5/19 1x daily

SJC – OGG 5/26/19 1x daily

Interesting. Didn’t realize they were also doing intraisland.

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Originally Posted by isppilot

Interesting. Didn’t realize they were also doing intraisland.

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Yep...HA in trouble. Shares slipped 16%.

Update... Possible flights from LAX to HNL ✈ Possible addition of inter-island and/or direct flights to ITO

✈ Possible flights from PHX, LAS and later, DEN to HNL...


Unique food and drink on-board.
1. Food.
Southwest 737 galleys do not have the facilities to support customary airline meals. With no traditional chillers/ovens or food trolleys in their aircraft, and galley space extremely limited, the airline is going in another direction. Thus, free food will be provided as two snack services. One soon after take-off and another two hours before landing. This is reminiscent of the snack boxes SWA had on longer flights until about five years ago.
As expected, Sonya Lacore, VP of SWA Inflight Services said last week that the airline will not be serving hot food on Hawaii flights. Apparently there will be no food for sale as well. Instead they will be offering the following complimentary snacks:
Southwest Hawaii flights snack services will accompany drinks. The main post-departure service will feature a snack bag that includes crackers, pretzels, cheese spread, Tic-Tacs and fruit snacks. The second service will consist of Pepperidge Farm cookies.
2. Some Hawaii style beverages.
The airline will help try to capture the island environment through unique drink offerings. Those are said to include pineapple/orange juice, Kona Longboard beer and Blue Chair Bay (Caribbean) rum.