does southwest fly to hawaii

Southwest Airlines does not fly to hawaii,but southwest has contracted for 20 Boeing 737-800s from Boeing that would allow it to offer direct flights to Hawaii. The airline will need federal approval to fly the long over-water route to Hawaii with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Kelly and other Southwest officials talked about the company’s plans at its annual media day on Thursday.

Hawaii would provide a plum destination for regular Southwest customers redeeming their frequent-flier credits, and Atlanta is a key market for business travelers.
Southwest doesn’t fly to Atlanta right now, but AirTran operates about 200 flights a day there.
The move is a new direction for an airline that currently has neither the equipment nor the authority to fly to Hawaii. The first of the jets is scheduled to be delivered in March 2012.

The Dallas News reported Thursday that Southwest had posted a job for an ETOPS program manager. "You can't fly to Hawaii if you don't have ETOPS certification, and you can't have ETOPS certification without the right people," said reporter Terry Maxon.
Beginning Nov. 12, travelers will be able to book travel to Mexico from about 20 U.S. cities served by Southwest. The cross-border flights will be operated by Volaris from Los Angeles, Oakland and San Jose, Calif.

And the Dallas-based airline set a price of $5 per flight for onboard Internet access. There’s still no way, however, for customers to see on Southwest’s website whether their plane will be among those outfitted for WiFi. Southwest says it will notify passengers by email if their flight is equipped with WiFi. It plans to have WiFi on 60 planes by year-end.