That compares with Hawaiian Air’s 7,000, so it’s interesting to note the difference in size. Southwest has grown to 700 Hawaii employees. The airline now uses the E gates, which are centrally located in the airport and have the most food and shopping options. They also upgraded their luggage handling and check-in systems. Since Southwest arrived in Honolulu, they have gone from arguably the worst gates to the best at the airport. In other words, this is intended to keep Southwest’s Hawaii flights operating far more smoothly.Īndy said last week of this commitment, “This is what you do when you have an operation that is kind of a big scale, and you want to perform at a high level over a period of time: You spend the money to invest in that structure to support the operations over the long haul.” That means a local focus to help with flight delays, cancellations, changes of aircraft, and coordination with air traffic control. He noted that Hawaii, which he knows as well as anyone, needs this type of operation center as much as focus cities of far greater size do.Īndy said, “Honolulu is a medium-sized airport, but it serves as an anchor for the other four island airports and Hawaii operations to the mainland.” A new Honolulu command center coordinates gates, flight holds, and network Ops. Southwest’s COO (and ex-Hawaiian Airlines exec) Andy Watterson was in Honolulu last week to mark the center’s opening. This is one of only 18 such centers Southwest maintains in its network. But now, the airline has opened a serious new operations support center at Honolulu airport. One of the regular complaints about their Hawaii operation is that it has been controlled largely from the mainland. Hawaii is Southwest’s latest focus region. Not only that, but the company offers a unique and high-quality Hawaii travel product that impressed us. Their arrival brought airfares down to some sustained, unexpectedly low levels, including the $39 airfares interisland still available and regular Hawaii airfares from the mainland as low as $119. To this day, Southwest is a big deal here, no matter how you feel about them. Four years ago this month, Southwest Hawaii flights arrived in Honolulu.
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