Southwest Airlines Make Changes to Hawaii Flights 2025

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As we draw near 2026, a number of changes are to be expected by the folks that have been big fans of Southwest Airlines for a while. The big plan which has been dubbed “Southwest better” entails reforms from a wide range of the carrier’s services including looks (cabin space, lighting), partnerships with international air companies, a reimagined system of determining who sits where etc.

Simultaneously, Southwest is introducing Southwesteeping modifications in terms of its operations in certain routes one of the most affected being Hawaii.

As a matter of fact, Island inter-flights will be reduced by at least 30%. I will thus discuss the details of this new approach below telling you the exact destinations affected, the magnitude to which this will be happening, the reasons why Southwest is acting as it has, what you can do in the aftermath etc. Read on.

The Genesis of Southwest’s problems in Hawaii

Southwest has not flown to Hawaii for that long. The very first plans for this endeavor were announced by the then company Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van De Ven citing an intention to connect Hawaii to major Californian cities as the main driver.

These are among others; Las Vegas, Phoenix, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose. From a financial point of view, Southwest was making good money so it made sense to expand (the airline was already flying over 100 million people per year).

Southwest was positioned to win the Hawaiian travel market because as it had operated elsewhere in the country, it was going to introduce relatively low cost flights which is something that tourists (by far the biggest constituency of Hawaii travelers) are going to always look out for.

The other selling point which unfortunately turned out to be a wrong call was that Southwest would be committing these journeys to the then new Boeing 737 MAX.

Before Southwest could even begin on its travels though, two 737 MAX planes operating in other parts of the world had crashed there causing panic including within Southwest management. One of these unfortunate incidents actually happened ten days before the first scheduled Southwest trip to Hawaii (March 17, 2019).

Southwest would then be forced to rearrange with Boeing to replace her aero planes with 737-800s as the FAA ordered that all activity by the Maxes be halted across the board.

As if that was not enough, the pandemic hit around the two years mark of Southwest’s California-Hawaii program. This meant that profits would tank given the heavy restrictions that the air transport industry was met with not least in Hawaii.

Finally, the company has had its own scandals around how it has handled this particular destination. A little over six months ago, one of their flight came as near as 400ft from crashing at the coast.

No one was hurt and it was later explained that the weather conditions had prevented the pilot from proceeding with a scheduled landing.

Nonetheless, the incident did not help with the overall optics for Southwest to the extent that the FAA opened an investigation into the incident.

The Changes

On top of the factors discussed above, there has been criticism intimating that Southwest’s current strategy failed because of the fact that it did not recognize the complexities and culture that underpin travel to Hawaii.

And indeed, when one looks at the changes that have been brought up, they quickly realize that the total number of flights have not themselves changed per se but rather, there has been a restructuring to suit these realities.

Southwest will for instance, focus more on direct flights as opposed to inter-island ones than before i.e. it is taking to an approach very similar to what Alaska Airlines is already doing.

Then there is the issue of scaling up the number of flights serving popular destinations e.g. for Las Vegas and San Jose. Incidentally, the most trafficked route of Maui to Honolulu will see a reduction in the planes allocated probably in order to avoid unnecessary delays.

Most of these cases will be effective starting in April 2025 though there are some that will begin to hold in March and August.

To simplify this complex picture for you, I will share the changes introduced below in five different categories; destinations that have been canceled altogether, destinations where flights will reduce, destinations where flights will increase, destinations whose flights remain as they were previously and those for which overnight travel has been introduced.

Introduced overnight flights

Honolulu to Los Angeles
Seattle to Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Houston, and Nashville
Long Beach, California to Baltimore/Washington
Lihue, Hawaii to Las Vegas
Portland, Oregon to Baltimore/Washington
San Jose, California to Baltimore/Washington
Sacramento, California to Orlando
Ontario, California to Baltimore/Washington
San Francisco to Baltimore/Washington and Nashville

Reduced flights

Honolulu to Maui, from 11 flights to 8 flights per day
Honolulu to Lihue, from 8 flights to 6 flights per day
Los Angeles to Kona, from 5 to 2 flights per week
Honolulu to Oakland, from 2 to 1 flight per day
Honolulu to Kona on the Big Island, from 6 to 5 flights per day
Honolulu to Phoenix, from 2 to 1 flight per day
Kahului to Las Vegas, from 2 to 1 flight per day
Kahului to Long Beach, 2 services will be suspended every week
Kahului to Oakland, from 2 to 1 flight per day
Kona to Los Angeles, from 2 to 5 flights per week
Kona to Oakland, 1 service will be suspended everyday
Lihue to Los Angeles, from 2 to 1 flight per day

Increased Flights

Las Vegas to Honolulu, from 2 to 3 flights per day
Sacramento to Kona, reintroduction of a seasonal daily service
Maui to San Jose, from 2 to 5 flights per week
Kahului to San Jose, from , 2 to 5 flights per week

Unchanged Flights

Lihue to Maui, 1 flight per day
Honolulu to Hilo, 3 flights per day

Canceled Altogether

Maui to Long Beach
Kona to Oakland

How to adjust

If at all these changes affect your routine travels to Hawaii, then it is important that you ready yourself for what is coming so you are not caught off-guard. How one responds, entirely goes back to how it is that the announcements interfere with their schedule.

If the usual route for you has retained the same number of planes or there has been an introduction of a destination that makes things even simpler, then you might as well just be more relaxed on your next trip.

Things are different for folks that will be losing a favorite flight course though, so it is these guys that I will be trying to help under this section;

#1. Expect to fly less with Southwest

Whereas Southwest has made these decisions, the good news is that there are companies that have managed to remain afloat without having to reduce the places to which they fly in Hawaii.

For folks that are big on inter-Island flights for instance, you can try your luck with Hawaiian. True, adjusting to a new way of life comes with its difficulties but it should not be too bad if you keep an open mind.

#2. Prepare to spend some more

As any business person will tell you, competition is the best friend of customers. Having more than one option to choose from forces service providers to provide good deals to people in a bid to lure them and this includes offering them goods at a reasonable sum.

With Southwest out of the game thus, it is likely that the remaining companies will hike their fees. Moreover, Southwest has already been known to ask relatively less money as it stands.

#3. Try to be innovative

While the new changes are definitely going to affect passengers. You do not have to be inconvenienced in the worst of ways.

If you look at the new schedule carefully, you will be surprised to find that there are opportunities in it that you can jump on. In the case of a tourist for example, you could choose to explore the destinations that now have more flights often.

#4. Be ready in case of further changes

Southwest has introduced these measures because as we have seen already, her earlier conceived plans about how it would operate in Hawaii turned out to be mistaken.

There is not guarantee though that the new approach will succeed. This means that even the individuals who have not been affected should be on the guard in case things fail again.

About Southwest

Founded in 1957 and starting operations in 1971, Southwest is an airline company based in the United States. It is headquartered in Dallas with operating bases in Baltimore, Las Vegas, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix et.al.

The company has a fleet of over 800 planes flying to at least 121 states in the United States and at least ten countries.

Going by the number of passengers flown, Southwest ranks third biggest airline in the world. This success is partly due to its low-cost model which has made it popular and therefore attracted scores of customers to fly with it.

Southwest operates as many as 4,000 flights per day during its peak season. By 2023, it employed roughly 74,800 people in total.