Southwest Airlines, which has made no secret of its goal to extend its route network to Hawaii, just got that much closer, receiving a permit for space at Honolulu's busy airport.
But a start date for service is still uncertain; the airline still needs ETOPS certification; that's the Extended-Range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards required to operate two-engine planes far from land. Until recently that wasn't possible for Southwest; its fleet of 737s, the only plane it flies, didn't have the range to meet the standard for flights from the West Coast to Hawaii.
The game-changer is Southwest's now-arriving fleet of Boeing 737 MAX planes, which have a greater range due to more efficient engines burning less fuel along the way. Once the planes are cleared, Southwest can now set a date to start flying.
Southwest typically has a lower-price fare structure than the Big 3 legacy airlines (American, United and Delta), so its entry into the market may put some price pressure on the others. And if Southwest is successful in grabbing a profitable share of Honolulu, it may want to expand to Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
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