ASSOCIATED PRESS
Southwest Airlines Co.
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The Boeing 737 MAX 8 flown by Lion Air that crashed shortly after takeoff early Monday from Jakarta, Indonesia, is the same type of aircraft that Southwest Airlines plans to use for its flights between the mainland and Hawaii.
Southwest, which began using the MAX 8 in October 2017 on continental flights, said in May that it plans to serve Hawaii with 175-seat aircraft, initially starting with the Boeing 737-800 and then switching to the more efficient MAX 8. The Dallas-based carrier is still waiting for operational clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and is hoping to begin selling tickets later this year for mainland-Hawaii flights in early 2019.