Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said Wednesday that Hawaii is a priority destination for the carrier, according to a report from the The Arizona Republic.

Kelly said the airline does not have an official work plan for the new route but Hawaii is “pretty high on the priority list.” Kelly made the remarks at Southwest’s annual shareholders meeting in Phoenix.

Kelly said he doubted the airline would have the Hawaii service available to passengers by 2018. Kelly said Southwest’s 2018 plans have not been finalized and Southwest has several steps to complete before it can set up the Hawaii route.

For Southwest to be able to offer a route to Hawaii, the airlines must get Federal Aviation Administration certification for flights over the Pacific, as well as complete flight crew training and technology support.

Kelly said the first Hawaii flights would depart from the West Coast; he didn’t provide details about which cities.