Government Shutdown Keeping Southwest From Expanding To Hawaii

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The partial shutdown of the federal government is affecting Southwest's expansion and putting some vacation plans in limbo.

Southwest wants to start making trips to Hawaii, but at the moment it's all on hold.

Federal Aviation Administration workers who handle a key certification for the airline are on furlough and cannot move forward with the process.

Some people who are hoping to travel to Hawaii in the coming months on the budget airline are left waiting to see what happens.

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"Until they get that certification, they don't know when they will be able to start flying. And that means that they have to hold off on advertising the routes, taking reservations, selling vacation packages and more. So it's literally costing Southwest Airlines a lot of money," said travel analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group.

The new flights would serve Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento and San Diego, but those seats on those flights cannot be sold it gets approval from the feds.