Oakland International Airport is celebrating another first today following Southwest Airlines’ inaugural flight to Maui on Sunday. The Airport and Airline celebrated with a Hawaii-inspired send-off at Oakland International Airport, complete with Hula dancers, live music, fresh leis, and an offer to park free for four days.
Port of Oakland Director of Aviation, Bryant L. Francis, said, “It is with great pleasure that we support our partners at Southwest Airlines in inaugurating service to Maui from the East Bay. Given the success of Southwest’s recent Honolulu launch, this expansion reaffirms Oakland as the Bay Area’s affordable and reliable choice for service to the Hawaiian Islands. We look forward to more exciting collaborations to come.”
Customers flying to Hawaii from Oakland may take advantage of the Airport’s Park Free promotion by completing an easy advance registration at www.OaklandAirport.com/ParkFree. The offer carries a value $96 over 4 days, and is available now through Labor Day Weekend. Travel must be concluded by September 2nd. The deal also applies to tickets for travel on all nonstop flights to Europe.
The airline announced early last year that it planned to launch service to Honolulu (island of Oahu), Kahului (Maui), Lihue (Kauai) and Kona (Hawaii's “Big Island"), setting off industry-wide speculation about which mainland cities would receive the service. Oakland, a Southwest Airlines focus city, was announced last May as one of the first cities to host the service. Southwest’s first-ever commercial flight to the Hawaiian Islands departed from Oakland to Honolulu on March 17.
Southwest’s first flight to Maui departed Oakland at 11:15 AM local time on Sunday, April 7. The Airline has operated from Oakland for 30 years.
