Southwest Airlines - announcement coming..

[terracore]

I can't speak of their current plans, but when Southwest first started the E-TOPS process they were shopping around for vendors at the Kona airport. Unless Hilo is also in their plans, about two years ago they were interested in KOA.

[Tink]

Perhaps using Hilo, or ITO to a comparable size flow airport like Sacramento Metropolitan (SMF) and throw in a run to Lihue (LIH) would be a good business triangle for them to serve, and let the big guys have Honolulu, Kahalui, Oakland, San Francisco, etc.. Problem though, is the demographics. Not enough Hotel space Eastside and it's all about serving the Tourii, not the people.

Community begins with Aloha

[punaticbychoice]

Tink @ 16:09:11-
Yup.

[kalakoa]

it's all about serving the Tourii, not the people

No kidding. It really should be cheaper to fly roundtrip from Hawaii -- it's usually not a "vacation" but necessary for work which has the side effect of bringing money in from outside the state....

[SBH]

Island Air is coming back to Hilo.

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...lo-flights

[Midnight Rambler]

It's hard to see Island Air having any kind of competitive benefit when they're consistently more expensive for lousier flights. You've got to win in at least one way.

[TomK]

I tend to agree. I could see them, perhaps, offering more direct flights between Hilo and Maui or maybe even Hilo and Kona, but I don't imagine there's a massive demand for that. If they offered lower prices than Hawaiian, maybe that's a way, but suspect Hawaiian could match them for Hilo flights.

[SBH]

I'm happy to see more competition with HA which has been operating like a monopoly and gauging customers.

Hopefully this will help lower airfares, especially since fuel has been relatively cheap.

[EightFingers]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SBH

Island Air is coming back to Hilo.

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...lo-flights

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I saw a new word, "certificating". [8D]

[Mac2017]

I'm a little partial towards Southwest. I flew with them about 15 to 20 times a year for work. I very rarely had a problem with my flights. Their pricing is almost impossible to beat. I hope they keep their pricing like they do on the mainland. Ontario to Sacramento is only 99 to 120 bucks round trip (wanna-get-away rate) so a quick island hop price in theory would be way cheaper than HA. We will see, but I think with the introduction of southwest things might get a little more affordable.