You Can Now Fly to Hawaii With Southwest Airlines

Travelers may be happy to learn that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finally given approval to Southwest Airlines to start flying to Hawaii.

Southwest announced that the FAA has allowed the airline to fly to the Hawaiian islands from the West Coast.

The company said that the airline will service Hawaii from several California cities and will announce in days a time frame of when it will start selling tickets. The California cities are Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego.

In a statement, Southwest said it’s still finalizing its plans for selling Hawaii flights. “We’ll publicly announce our timing for selling tickets and inaugurating flights to the Hawaiian Islands in the coming days,” the company stated.

It was in October of 2017 that Southwest had said it plans to start flying to Hawaii.

“Were it not for Hawaii, we would absolutely be adding some more international routes and augmenting some of our flying,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in January. “So it’s simply a matter of prioritization, and Hawaii, I think, deserves that kind of prioritization. It’s that big of an opportunity.”

It was at the beginning of February that Southwest completed its first validation flight to Hawaii.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and have not been compensated for this article.