Southwest Airlines starts new island-hopping flights in Hawaii

Southwest Airlines has started a new route in the Hawaiian islands with plans to add more service between islands. The airline began service Sunday between Honolulu on Oahu and Kona on Hawaii Island. Southwest plans to begin 4-times daily service to Hilo on the eastern side of the Big Island in late 2019 or early 2020, officials said. Southwest entered the Hawaii market in March when it initiated service between Honolulu and Oakland, Calif. With the addition of Kona, Southwest has 16 Hawaii interisland flights, or 1,800 daily interisland air seats. The Hilo service would add 1,400 more seats each day to the interisland market, where Southwest flies 175-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The carrier has added 2,100 daily seats through the 12 daily trans-Pacific flights that it offers to and from Hawaii, officials said. <br/>