Daniel Airport

[Jule Watkinson]

Thereare eight Federal Government agencies located within the airport complex, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, Post Office, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Transportation Security Administration. Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) and HNL operate as a joint use facility and share runways and taxiways.

The airport has its own retail stores, restaurants and bars, business center, automated teller machines, jail, freeway, traffic lights, post office, car rental agencies, and other travel related businesses.

At any given daytime or evening hour, an estimated 10,000 people are in the airport complex as passengers, employees or visitors. Approximately 15,000 people work at the airport every day and another 20,000 depend on the airport daily for their livelihood. The State Department of Transportation Airports Division employs a workforce over 1200 employees statewide. Daniel K Inouye International Airport employs a workforce of 790, with 250 whom are custodians.

The airport works closely with the Airline Committee of Hawaii, the Airport Concessionaires Committee, the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal agencies, and Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) in the operation of the airport.

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport also manages Kalaeloa Airport (JRF) and Dillingham Field (HDH). Kalaeloa, the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, was designated as the general aviation reliever airport for HNL on July 1, 1999. Kalaeloa is also an alternate landing site for military and commercial airlines and is used on a daily basis by the Coast Guard. Dillingham Field is a specialized general aviation airport used primarily by gliders and parachutists.

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport[3] (IATA: HNL, ICAO: PHNL, FAA LID: HNL), also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main and largest airport in Hawaii.[4] The airport is named after Honolulu native and Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye, who represented Hawaii in the United States Senate from 1963 until his death in 2012. The airport is in the Honolulu census-designated place 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Honolulu's central business district.[2][5] The airport covers 4,220 acres (1,710 ha), more than 1% of Oahu's land.[2][6]

The airport opened on March 21, 1927, as John Rodgers Airport, after World War I naval officer John Rodgers.[9] It was funded by the territorial legislature and the Chamber of Commerce, and was the first full airport in Hawaii; aircraft had previously been limited to small landing strips, fields, and seaplane docks. From 1939 to 1943, the adjacent Keehi Lagoon was dredged for use by seaplanes, and the dredged soil was moved to HNL to provide more space for conventional planes.

The U.S. military grounded all civil aircraft and took over all civil airports after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Rodgers Field was designated Naval Air Station Honolulu. The Navy built a control tower and terminal building, and some commercial traffic was allowed during daylight hours. Rodgers Field was returned to the Territory of Hawaii in 1946. At the time, at 4,019 acres (16.26 km2), it was one of the largest airports in the United States, with four paved land runways and three seaplane runways.[9]

The original terminal building on the southeast side of runways 4 was replaced by the John Rodgers Terminal, which was dedicated on August 22, 1962, and opened on October 14, 1962.[9] From 1970 through 1978, the architect Vladimir Ossipoff designed a terminal modernization project that remodeled this terminal and created several additions,[13][14] which included the Diamond Head Concourse in 1970, the Ewa Concourse in 1972, and the Central Concourse in 1980.[15]

Honolulu-based air carriers Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines had both introduced jet service on their respective inter-island routes in Hawaii by 1966 with Aloha operating British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets and Hawaiian flying Douglas DC-9-10 jets with both airlines also continuing to operate turboprops on their island services at this time.[23][24] According to their respective timetables, Aloha was flying Fairchild F-27 and Vickers Viscount propjets while Hawaiian was operating Convair 640 propjets in addition to their new jet aircraft in 1966. Both local air carriers would eventually operate service to the U.S. mainland as well as to the South Pacific while continuing to operate inter-island flights. In 1986, Hawaiian was operating nonstop Lockheed L-1011 Tristar service from Honolulu to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle as well as one-stop direct service to Portland, Oregon, and also nonstop Douglas DC-8 service to Pago Pago with this flight continuing on to Tonga.[25] By 2003, Aloha was flying nonstop Boeing 737-700 service to Burbank, Oakland, Orange County, and Vancouver, B.C., with one-stop service to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and Sacramento in addition to operating nonstop flights to Kwajalein and Pago Pago with one-stop service to Majuro and Rarotonga.[26]

In April 1974, American Airlines, Braniff International, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Pan Am, TWA, United Airlines and Western Airlines were all operating nonstop services on domestic routes from the U.S. mainland while CP Air, a Canadian airline, was operating international nonstop service from Vancouver and on to the South Pacific during the mid-1970s.[46][47] Just over 25 years later, in June 1999, U.S.-based air carriers operating domestic nonstop services from the mainland included American Airlines, American Trans Air, Continental, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Northwest, TWA, and United, while Air Canada, Canadian Airlines International (the successor to CP Air), and Canada 3000 were operating nonstop services from Canada.[48]

After thirty years, Ossipoff's "forward-looking and flexible design" for the Overseas Terminal had become quite dated.[14] A 2007 retrospective book on Ossipoff's architecture noted that his terminal design was "facing the challenges of new standards of accessibility, comfort, and security", and was therefore likely to be altered or obliterated in the near future.[14]

On March 24, 2006, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle unveiled a $2.3 billion modernization program for Hawaii airports over a 12-year period, with $1.7 billion budgeted for Honolulu International Airport.[49] The plan involves implementing short-term projects within the first five years to improve passenger service and increase security and operational efficiencies.[50]

As part of the modernization, flight display monitors throughout the airport were upgraded, new food and beverage vendors were added, and a new parking garage across from the international arrival terminal was completed. An international arrivals corridor with moving sidewalks built atop the breezeway leading to the Ewa Concourse was completed in 2010.[51]

In 2011, Hawaiian Airlines renovated the check-in lobby of the Interisland Terminal, replacing the traditional check-in counters with six circular check-in islands in the middle of the lobbies, which can be used for inter-island, mainland, and international flights. This renovation project was fully funded by Hawaiian Airlines and not a part of the modernization program.[52]

By 2012, Hawaiian Airlines was re-establishing Honolulu International Airport as a connecting hub between the United States mainland and the Asia-Pacific region.[53] That year, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, the airport had 24% fewer domestic departure flights than it did in 2007.[54]

During the 2016 legislative session, the Hawaii state legislature passed a resolution requesting that the U.S. Department of Transportation rename Honolulu International Airport for the late U.S. senator and Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye.[55] The new name first appeared in Federal Aviation Administration documentation on April 27, 2017,[56] and the airport was officially renamed in a ceremony at the airport on May 30, 2017.

On June 1, 2018, the Hawaii Department of Transportation started renumbering all gates and baggage claim carousels.[57] Gates were renamed alphanumerically, baggage carousels were renumbered from alphanumerical to numerical, and the Interisland and Overseas terminals were redesignated Terminals 1 and 2 respectively. HDOT cited the expansion of existing terminals in the airport as a reason to renumber all gates and baggage carousels. The renumbering was the first done since 1993.

After years of delays, the state airports division broke ground on the Mauka Concourse in Terminal 1 on May 30, 2018, and completed construction on August 26, 2021.[58] The first concourse expansion at HNL since 1995, the new concourse includes gates that can accommodate wide-body jets, thus reducing the need for Hawaiian Airlines passengers to walk between Terminals 1 and 2 for overseas arrivals and departures, and freeing up gate space for other airlines.[59]

A new consolidated rental car facility (CONRAC) was built on the east side of Terminal 2 and was completed on December 1, 2021. The 1.8 million square foot five-story facility is a short walk from Terminal 2 baggage claim and is also served by a consolidated shuttle bus service.[60]

The airport has four major runways, which it operates in conjunction with the adjacent Hickam Air Force Base.[61] The principal runway designated 8R/26L, also known as the Reef Runway, was the world's first major runway constructed entirely offshore. Completed in 1977, the Reef Runway was a designated alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle.

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport has 60 gates (54 jet-way gates and 6 hard stands) in three terminals. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are connected post-security, however, passengers walking from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 must pass through a USDA agricultural inspection station for carry-on luggage.

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