Parts of Army-owned Dillingham Airfield — including a 5,000-foot runway — have been leased by the state Department of Transportation’s Airports Division for more than five decades. The go-to site for skydiving, gliders and ultralights logs more than 36,000 civilian aircraft flights a year.
But last week, the airfield’s routine operations in quiet Mokuleia were rocked by DOT’s abrupt decision to cease operations, transferring the site back to the Army effective July 1. While, in a news release, the agency said it made the decision after “careful consideration,” it’s apparent that the move involved scant consideration for tenants and their customers.
Based at Dillingham are three glider operations, two skydiving centers, hangars for privately owned aircraft and other aviation operations. The Army-DOT lease was to have expired in 2024, so the state agency’s short-notice decision — relayed to the Army last month and publicly revealed just Thursday — has caught the airfield’s civilian users off guard.
Further, DOT’s reasoning for its decision raises questions that deserve prompt answers. State Sen. Gil Riviere, whose district includes Mokuleia, Waialua and Haleiwa, is rightly asking Gov. David Ige to intercede and reconsider the decision or at least have a longer-term transition, which could allow for another entity to possibly take over.
DOT’s reasons cited for transfer of airfield management and maintenance, such as future lease uncertainty and a water system maintenance issue, seem to have been in the mix for some time.
In the interest of fairness, DOT should tap the breaks — and more candidly explain its sense of urgency — as hundreds of jobs are tied to the North Shore airfield, which has long served as a recreational resource for residents and visitors.
Established in the early 1960s, DOT’s initial lease spanned two decades, and was followed by another for 25 years. Over the past decade, the agreements have shortened to five-year stretches.
DOT maintains that its inability to secure a lease longer than 20 years hinders its eligibility, as an airport sponsor, to apply for or get federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, which can fund an array of projects, ranging from land acquisition to runway rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees such grants, also is not happy that DOT intends to terminate operations, pointing out that previous AIP funding paid for a Dillingham taxiway extension installed in 2005, with the expectation that it would be available for civilian use at least through 2025. In a written statement the FAA said: “We made that investment expecting a minimum useful life of 20 years. … We strongly encourage” the DOT and Army “to reach an agreement for the continued operation and civilian use” of the airfield.
Agreed. The state and the military should make another concerted effort to resolve lease-related snags.
One matter that needs to be untangled is a lease term that places the DOT in charge of a water system — treatment and delivery of well water to the airfield and neighbors, including a YMCA camp. Tasked with scores of transportation-related responsibilities, DOT’s mission would seem to have little to do with shouldering operation of a water system.
DOT has specified that leaving Dillingham is not connected to the June 21 skydiving plane crash at the airfield that killed 11 people. Still, the crash — the nation’s worst civilian aviation accident in eight years — remains under investigation, and has prompted valid concerns about state protocols for issuing and enforcing flight-related permits.
There’s a lot of room for improvement in the state’s handling of its responsibilities at Dillingham. Rather than leaving hundreds in a serious lurch amid confusion, it should — at least — marshal an effort to make good on its current lease commitment.
