Although Southwest Airlines has been planning to launch flights to Hawaii since 2017, their efforts have been delayed — until now. The first test flight between Oakland, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, took place yesterday.
First @SouthwestAir jet lands in Honolulu! It made it! Aloha and wooohooo! https://t.co/qswuhSVjl8
— Chris McGinnis (@cjmcginnis) February 6, 2019
The Southwest Boeing 737-800 aircraft flew without any commercial passengers — only airline employees and US government inspectors — with the goal of evaluating the plane’s long-range navigation and communication abilities. Before officially launching regular flights to Hawaii, Southwest must first obtain certification for overwater flying from the Federal Aviation Administration.