Southwest Announces New Hawaii Routes; Flights Start At $99

Southwest Airlines announced they are adding more routes to Hawaii with prices starting at just $99 for one-way flights from California.

The airline made the announcement after several months of no expansion plans. The Southwest Airlines Hawaiian expansion plans have been halted by the grounding of the 737 Max in March. Southwest Airlines had 34 of the aircraft in their fleet.

Details on the new Hawaii service:
-New service between Sacramento and Honolulu starting Jan. 19, 2020.
-New service between Oakland and San Jose to Lihue (Kauai) starting either Jan. 19 or 21, 2020.
-New service between Oakland and San Jose to Kona (The Big Island) starting either Jan. 19 or 21, 2020.
-New interisland service starting Jan. 19, 2020 between: Honolulu and Lihue, Honolulu and Hilo. The inter-island routes start at $29 one way.

With the expansion, Southwest, will now operate 34 interisland departures a day. The increase in flights is expected to have an effect on ticket prices. The market has seen a few interisland route rates drop 16 percent recently.

Southwest has long said service to Hawaii will initially come from four California cities: Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento and San Diego. Southwest said service from San Diego will be announced at a later date.