Ellison Onizuka Kona
International Airport at Keahole is expected to reopen this morning at first light after it shut down Monday afternoon due to safety concerns linked to cracks found on the runway.
The move ended up leading to the cancellation of
a number of flights and diverting aircraft headed to Kona, affecting thousands of passengers.
The state Department of Transportation on Monday said the airport would remain closed through the night as it was not possible to operate around a damaged section of runway.
However, the department is also working with contractors to mill and resurface a 10-by-10-foot area, and the work is expected to be completed before sunrise.
Passengers with flights scheduled to arrive in or
depart from Kona today are advised to check with their airline before heading to the airport, the department said.
On Monday, Hawaiian
Airlines canceled five interisland flights to Kona and a flight from Los Angeles, affecting some 700 people,
according to the airline.
“We’ll be monitoring this through the night and hoping the patches can be done in order to get our flights out in the morning,” Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said Monday evening.
A number of other airlines were forced to cancel or
divert their aircraft because of the Kona closure. Those include a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas, an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles and a United Airlines flight from Denver.
Flightaware.com indicated that Alaska Airlines had six cancellations, including flights from Seattle and Portland, Ore. More than a dozen interisland flights were canceled, and some aircraft waited on the runway in Honolulu waiting for the airport to reopen.
According to an earlier statement from the Department of Transportation, crews were checking the
entire length of the runway for cracks.
A project to reconstruct the entire 11,000-foot runway had been scheduled for this year, but cracks developed and the degradation
of the runway pavement
accelerated due to recent rain, the statement said.
The Hawaii Tourism
Authority said it is closely monitoring the runway closure and the repair efforts.
“KOA is an important gateway for the Island of
Hawai‘i that sees thousands of passengers and tons of cargo arrive and depart daily on interisland, domestic, and international flights,” the HTA said in a statement.
HTA Chair Mufi Hannemann said, “This thing could have been out of
control, but I’m glad the DOT stepped up to the plate big time and they’re on it.”
Hannemann said the HTA is now looking at how it can support passengers in Kona who cannot get out and passengers headed to Kona diverted to Honolulu.
HTA has already authorized funding to address any passenger comfort needs at the Kona airport, Hannemann said. “Our partners at the Visitor Aloha
Society of Hawai‘i on each island are standing by to
assist further if needed.”
Earlier Monday, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he contacted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to see whether he could help with getting the runway open.
“He is working with the FAA to help to solve this problem as quickly as possible,” Schatz said in a statement. Schatz is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
Keith Vieira, principal at KV &Associates, Hospitality Consulting, called the early uncertainty of the airport closure “very concerning.” It was probably too early to generate visitor cancellations, he said, but the longer the uncertainty drags on, the more chance cancellations become a threat.
“The last thing we need is an airport problem, because we’re a leisure destination and there is only one way to get here,” Vieira said.
