Originally Posted by
gloopy
I love how every wanna be thinks Hawaii is some treasure trove of undiscovered profits. Its mostly an ultra low yielding, highly saturated market where big networks seat dump to bleed out mileage programs and a few niche carriers carve out some sustenance. That everyone thinks its part of their manifest destiny is laughable.
I love how every double-breasted wannabee airline analyst around here reads exactly what they want to read into otherwise innocuous quotes about an airline they cannot stand:
"Mr. Kelly said international flying was only 1% of its network, and he had previously identified adding routes to Mexico, the Caribbean and northern South America, as well as to Hawaii and Alaska.
"Hawaii is one of 50 potential destinations," he said, adding on a post-earnings call that it "wouldn't take years" to start flights to the islands."
I didn't see much "treasure trove of profits" in that statement. If SWA does eventually fly to HI it will be for the same reasons as Delta: it fills out the route map nicely and makes the airline more attractive overall to the traveling public.