Southwest Airlines' First Successful Flight to Hawaii from the Oakland Airport
It’s an Aloha Monday in Oakland after the first Southwest Airlines flight to the Hawaiian Islands arrived in Honolulu Sunday evening with 152 passengers and seven crewmembers. The Airport and Airline celebrated with a festive Hawaiian send-off at Oakland International Airport Sunday.
Scores of passengers, Airline, and Airport staff and officials crowded Terminal 1 at the Oakland International Airport Sunday morning as hula dancers welcomed revelers and onlookers to witness the long-awaited launch of Southwest Airlines’ inaugural service from the US Mainland to Hawaii.
The flight, which received a traditional Hawaiian blessing from Kahu Danny Akaka and his wife, Anna, departed Oakland at just after 11AM local time on Sunday, landing in Honolulu just after 2PM local time.
Port of Oakland Director of Aviation, Bryant L. Francis, said, “We are so pleased and honored that our partners at Southwest selected Oakland to be the launch point from the mainland US for its new service to Hawaii. This exciting new option is important because Southwest already serves more than two-thirds of the travelers at OAK, and will attract a different kind of customer traveling to Hawaii from the Bay Area and points across the country. We expect that the service will be successful and that the other airlines serving Hawaii from Oakland will continue to do well.”
The airline announced early last year that it planned to launch service to Honolulu (island of Oahu), Kahului (Maui), Lihue (Kauai) and Kona (Hawaii's “Big Island"), setting off industry-wide speculation about which mainland cities would receive the service. Oakland, a Southwest Airlines focus city, was announced last May as one of the first cities to host the service.
Tickets went on sale March 4th on the Airline’s website, signaling the start of service Sunday from Oakland. Many lucky passengers snagged introductory prices as low as $49 (one way) as part of a two-day offer tied to the announcement.
Southwest has served Oakland for more than 30 years.
Citation; Pulled from Oakland Airport Press release, March 18, 2019 by Keonnis R. Taylor "Southwest Airlines' First Flight to Hawaii a Success from Oakland" https://www.oaklandairport.com/southwest-airlines-first-flight-hawaii-success-oakland/