HONOLULU — Hawaii residents and visitors get ready for cheap interisland fares for the rest of the year.

On the heels of Southwest Airlines' $39 discounted fares to fly within neighboring islands, Hawaiian Airlines CEO said they are "going to stand our ground and compete" against their rival on their home island turf.

"We are going to compete aggressively," said Peter Ingram, the president and CEO of Hawaiian Holdings, the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, during Tuesday's earnings call. "We have made $39 fares available on our neighbor island flights through the remainder of the year. Not every seat on every flight, but these fares are broadly available."

Ingram added that as a reward for loyalty, HawaiianMiles credit card members would receive double miles and two bags free on every flight on these types of flights through the end of the year.

The announcement comes a few months after Southwest Airlines began offering $39 fares for flights in neighboring islands until the end of the year. The rate is about half of what it usually costs.

The discounted "Wanna Get Away" offer is good for nonstop, one-way flights starting and ending on the islands of Hawaii. Southwest flies in and out of Honolulu, Oahu, Kahului, Maui, Kona, and Hilo in the Big Island and Lihue in Kauai.

"We're seeing a great response to this promotional price on interisland flights, and that's meeting our goal of having folks give us a try," Southwest spokesperson Brad Hawkins said in a statement sent to USA Today in August. Southwest began offering the $39 flights in the summer.

Hawkins said the promotion would allow flyers to put Southwest "more top of mind as an option, even for last-minute trips tied to plans that change – business trips, journeys for medical care, and also tourism."

Southwest is a fairly new airline servicing Hawaii. The Dallas-based airline began flying customers to and from and within Hawaii in March 2019, one year before the coronavirus pandemic shut down travel worldwide.

The pandemic and pandemic-related travel restrictions impacted Southwest's ability to get a strong foothold in this relatively new market. 

Some believe the aggressively discounted fares are a way to get people in Southwest Airlines seats and learn about their offerings within the Hawaiian islands. 

It's too early to tell how well the promotion is working. 

Southwest Airlines officials said they could not comment on the promotion's performance ahead of the company's earnings call. Southwest's earnings call is Thursday. 

According to the Motley Fool, Southwest is performing well in its mainland to Hawaii flights but is "bleeding cash in the interisland market."

The Motley Fool reported that Southwest only collects about $26 on these one-way fares after taxes and fees, "enough to cover fuel and airport costs but not much else."

"These fares, even if 100% of seats are occupied, did not cover the cost of operations," said Ingram on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, a riled-up Ingram, the Hawaiian Airlines CEO, sounded like a football coach defending their home turf. 

Ingram wouldn't speculate on the strategic logic of Southwest's discounted fares, saying it's irrelevant. 

"What is relevant to us is how we respond and compete," he said.

Hawaiian Airlines' neighbor island network is integral to the airline's bottom line and nearly 93-year history. 

He said Hawaiian Airlines, since its founding in 1929, has been the primary provider of interisland transportation for many of Hawaii's residents and visitors.

Before the pandemic, interisland flights accounted for more than 20% of Hawaiian Airlines' passenger revenue. 

It's essential to maintain Hawaiian Airlines' status as the go-to carrier within the islands, Ingram said. 

"Over the past nine decades, we have absorbed competitive challenges on various fronts, and throughout, we have prevailed in large part due to our singular focus on serving the needs of Hawaii travelers better than any competitor," he said. 

Ingram rattled off all of the ways Hawaiian Airlines had an advantage over Southwest - better revenue streams, premium cabin, extra comfort seats, etc.

"$39 main cabin fares cannot close this gap," he said. 

He didn't say how long Hawaiian Airlines would continue matching their rival's discounted fares, only that they are up for the challenge.

"I'm going to be asked to speculate on how the current situation evolves in the months ahead," he said. "The simple answer is that I do not know. What I do know is that the appropriate response to this challenge is to compete. So we will lean in. For so long as these deeply discounted fares persist, we will see lower returns from our neighbor island routes. Exactly how long this will last is difficult to predict at this time. But for now, it will be a headwind to the recovery of our bottom line."