HONOLULU (KHON2) — Southwest Airlines says it followed all the rules to receive approval to fly to Hawaii.
This after a report in the Wall Street Journal that an unnamed FAA employee claims the airlines received preferential treatment from the agency which rushed the approval process for the financial benefit of the airline.
“We followed the same centralized and standardized FAA approval process required of all applying airlines,” says an official from Southwest. “The authorization followed a deliberate and stringent 14-month process, guided by the FAA to establish a program that fully satisfies each certification requirement while unequivocally adhering to all FAA regulations.”
Southwest started its service to and from Hawaii in March of 2019.
