Hawaiian, Southwest Warring On Everything: Flights, Pilots, Fuel, More

There’s no doubt about it. The ultimate battle for flights to Hawaii is on, and it is poised to continue and intensify. That between bellwether Hawaiian Airlines, and up and coming Hawaii behemoth Southwest Airlines.

BOH editor Jeff: “Southwest learned every trick in the Hawaii playbook directly from Hawaiian Airlines. This is a fight to the death between Hawaiian and Southwest.”

The battle of the flights.

1. The two leading Hawaii airlines are vying across a range of routes.

Southwest is constrained by its limited-range 737 aircraft. While they have broad coverage, their cross-country routes beyond Las Vegas or Phoenix require a connection. Hawaiian is constrained differently by a limited flight network. While they have some codeshare with JetBlue, that still limits how many options they have to distribute passengers beyond those nonstop flights.

Other airlines, including the legacies and Alaska, compete too, but they pale by comparison.

2. Southwest recently pulled back on mainland to Hawaii while doubling down on interisland.

In August they cut Los Angeles to Kauai and Kona, Phoenix to Kauai and Kona, Sacramento to Kauai, Kona and Maui, and San Diego to Kaua, Kona, and Maui. That reduced their mainland service by nearly 40% compared to when they were operating 37 daily flights, instead of the 23 now flying.

At the same time, Southwest increased interisland service and has decided to sell every seat on every flight for just $39 through the end of 2022. If it…