Originally Posted by
sidestep
I’ve always thought these arguements were a bit misleading. The glaring difference between all of these route comparisons is that the ONLY way to Lihue or Hilo is on Hawaiian. People in Lubbock or Tulsa don’t like the cost of a SWA ticket, then guess what - they drive. People of Hawaii don’t have that option. This is the crux of Opakapaka’s ‘holding the locals hostage’ argument.
Competition will be good for the people of Hawaii. Sure southwest’s entrance to the market is going to hurt Hawaiian’s earnings, but both will be able to co-exist.
I’m curious to see how SW handles the 100s of little idiosyncrasies that are a part of operating II - especially with a revolving crew set..

If it gets bad, I can always outsource that Interisland flying, my profits will be fine!