Hawaii/Mainland service

[Dan Roman]

Seeing as some SWA folks were crowing about coming to Hawaii......

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/2013/08/hawaiis-not-attractive-market-to.html

Guess not. There was a debate on here awhile ago on this subject and some thought low fares trump good service (Hawaiian, despite lower seat mile costs, actually gets a slightly higher yield from tickets than the competition). As Allegiant proved, low fares do not guaranty success , they got their ass handed to them in Hawaii.
Hawaii is simply not a market that you can offer low fares and presto, be successful.

 

[redflyer65]

Wow Dan. You're starting to sound like the General.


Very old news. Your article is two months old to begin with and Southwest corporate decision to hold off on Hawaii pre-dates that article by 2-3 months, easily.

Gary has said we will go to Hawaii. He said he won't make any further statements beyond that until he makes the announcement of new service. Just so you have some solid SW info.

 

[Dan Roman]

Wow Dan. You're starting to sound like the General.
.

How the hell did you find out about our OGG to LUB service!??? That's supposed to be a secret!

Your being very sensitive there Red. We needed some new threads on here and I am simply pointing out some harsh realities about the west coast to Hawaii market. It would be an expensive proposition for SWA to come here and with 737's they would be at a competitive disadvantage. Alaska has filled the void there for routes were the 737 can fly and have scaled that back as that market has been saturated. Hawaiian will be introducing A321 neos also. So the simple fact is SWA would be fighting a big battle for a small piece of pie. Finally, the current SWA type service simply would probably not do that well to Hawaii. Not a slam, you have a great following on the mainland for what you provide, but the Hawaii market is, in fact different. For example, People are not likely to want to leave their flight to Hawaii as being something that they have to board early to get a good seat on. So far quite a few airlines have offered all coach cheap flights to Hawaii over the years, they have all failed. Also, SWA only has one hub that you could reach Hawaii from with a profitable passenger load, OAK. LAS and PHX are too far for a 737.

 

[dalad]

Wow Dan. You're starting to sound like the General.


Very old news. Your article is two months old to begin with and Southwest corporate decision to hold off on Hawaii pre-dates that article by 2-3 months, easily.

Gary has said we will go to Hawaii. He said he won't make any further statements beyond that until he makes the announcement of new service. Just so you have some solid SW info.

You better figure out how to fly to the Caribbean Lake. Filing Havana as an alternate? Really?

 

[redflyer65]

How the hell did you find out about our OGG to LUB service!??? That's supposed to be a secret!

Your being very sensitive there Red. We needed some new threads on here and I am simply pointing out some harsh realities about the west coast to Hawaii market. It would be an expensive proposition for SWA to come here and with 737's they would be at a competitive disadvantage. Alaska has filled the void there for routes were the 737 can fly and have scaled that back as that market has been saturated. Hawaiian will be introducing A321 neos also. So the simple fact is SWA would be fighting a big battle for a small piece of pie. Finally, the current SWA type service simply would probably not do that well to Hawaii. Not a slam, you have a great following on the mainland for what you provide, but the Hawaii market is, in fact different. For example, People are not likely to want to leave their flight to Hawaii as being something that they have to board early to get a good seat on. So far quite a few airlines have offered all coach cheap flights to Hawaii over the years, they have all failed. Also, SWA only has one hub that you could reach Hawaii from with a profitable passenger load, OAK. LAS and PHX are too far for a 737.

Sensitive? Not really. Just calling an old decision by Southwest just that.

I have nothing against Hawaiian or Alaska for pursing there model and hopefully a nice profit. I hope both airlines do well (and it appears they both are). I get the part about Hawaii not working out for everybody. Probably why we aren't going there yet. SW is all about going to destinations to make a profit, if they can't do that...they usually stay away. Which is good for my profit sharing account.

Dalad,

I'm sure we will be able to navigate the Caribbean just fine. Thanks for the concern.

 

[dalad]

Sensitive? Not really. Just calling an old decision by Southwest just that.

I have nothing against Hawaiian or Alaska for pursing there model and hopefully a nice profit. I hope both airlines do well (and it appears they both are). I get the part about Hawaii not working out for everybody. Probably why we aren't going there yet. SW is all about going to destinations to make a profit, if they can't do that...they usually stay away. Which is good for my profit sharing account.

Dalad,

I'm sure we will be able to navigate the Caribbean just fine. Thanks for the concern.

Did that really happen? Was told by an FAA type and some AT guys. Just wondering.... Dispatchers do make mistakes.

 

[dalad]

I don't see why SWA doesn't start service from BOS to SNN, DUB, and KEF. At least in the summer.

 

[redflyer65]

The international growth will be interesting to see as it unfolds. The next schedule that comes out the first of December will show the SW routes. I don't expect anything new initially (same AirTran cities), but after the system is up (July '14) and running SW will only be limited by route length. Caribbean, Mexico and Central America (along with northern S.America) will all be in play.

Europe obviously isn't in the cards right now D, but who knows.

 

[HighSpeedClimb]

OAK. LAS and PHX are too far for a 737.

I guess it's our imagination that AS is flying a 737 from oak to Hawaii as did Aloha and ATA in the day. With Hawaiian's profit margin as thin as it is with a monopoly interisland, you better hope SWA doesn't fly to HI and perform tags interisland. Those tiny profits would wilt away

 

[Torpid]

I guess it's our imagination that AS is flying a 737 from oak to Hawaii as did Aloha and ATA in the day. With Hawaiian's profit margin as thin as it is with a monopoly interisland, you better hope SWA doesn't fly to HI and perform tags interisland. Those tiny profits would wilt away

Did you notice that there is a period after OAK?