Southwest Airlines Expanding Air Service To Hawaii Ahead Of Schedule
HONOLULU (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Dallas-based Southwest Airlines expects to more than quadruple its daily number of seats flying into and between the Hawaiian islands before completion of its first year of service to the area.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the airline credits strong customer demand for its Hawaii growth.
Officials say the airline began flying to Hawaii in March with one daily, round-trip flight between Honolulu and Oakland, California.
Southwest expects to fly between Honolulu and Lihue, Hawaii, and Honolulu and Sacramento, California, beginning in November rather than January.
The company also plans to add daily service beginning in March 2020 between the islands and California cities including Sacramento, Oakland and San Jose.
The carrier's expansion was delayed by the Federal Aviation Administration's grounding in March of Boeing 737 Max jets, which is ongoing.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
