Southwest began its life in 1971 as a short-haul airline shuttling commuters around Texas. So perhaps it is fitting that it will try to do something similar in Hawaii. But expect Hawaiian Airlines to vigorously defend its turf.
Southwest has built a reputation as a safe, reliable, and customer-friendly airline over nearly five decades. That has helped Southwest recently, as it has faced one of the biggest tragedies in its history.
For a small, all-coach, low-cost startup based in New York, a Long Beach, California, focus city made sense. But times change, and Long Beach hasn't worked out as well as expected. It's no surprise JetBlue is ready to shrink there.
The pictures from Southwest Flight 1380 are scary. But flying remains incredibly safe. Investigators will undoubtedly figure out what happened, and when they do, flying will be even safer.
Southwest added a bunch of flights earlier this year departing before 6 a.m., and passengers didn't seem to like them. But fear not. It's a short-term thing.
The conventional wisdom is that airline passengers will do anything to save a buck. That's often true, but not always. Southwest has recently added more flights that depart before 6 a.m. and arrive after 10 p.m., and its load factor has suffered.