Honolulu International Airport

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Honolulu International Airport
IATA: HNL - ICAO: PHNL
Summary
Airport type		Public / Military
Operator		Hawaii Department of Transportation
Serves		Honolulu, Hawaii
Elevation AMSL		13 ft (4 m)
Coordinates		21°19′07″N, 157°55′21″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
4L/22R	6,952	2,119	Asphalt
4R/22L	9,000	2,743	Asphalt
4W/22W	3,000	914	Water
8L/26R	12,300	3,749	Asphalt
8R/26L	12,000	3,658	Asphalt
8W/26W	5,000	1,524	Water

Honolulu International Airport (IATA: HNL, ICAO: PHNL) is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States.

Honolulu International Airport is the principal hub of Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines, the two largest Hawaii-based airlines. Both airlines offer flights between the various airports of the Hawaiian Islands and also serve the continental United States. Honolulu International Airport is host to major United States and international flagship commercial carriers with direct routes to American, Asian, and Pacific Rim destinations.

[edit] History

View of Honolulu from an airplane departing from Honolulu International Airport

HNL opened in March 1927 as John Rodgers Airport, named after World War I naval officer John Rodgers. 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 or 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 airplanes.

John Rodgers Airport was renamed Honolulu International Airport in 1947. Due to its proximity to the center of the Pacific Ocean, it was historically a stop for many transpacific flights to and from North America. By 1950, it was the third-busiest airport in the United States in terms of aircraft operations. In 1959, Qantas began the first jet service to Honolulu as a stop on its flights between Australia and California.

The original terminal building was demolished in 1965 and replaced by the John Rodgers Terminal, dedicated in 1962. This terminal was expanded several times with the addition of the Diamond Head Concourse in 1970, the Ewa Concourse in 1972 and the Central Concourse in 1980. [1]

With the advent of ultra-long range aircraft, most transpacific flights are now able to overfly Honolulu. As such, the airport has seen a notable decrease in international passenger traffic over the years, particularly to Australia, the South Pacific and southeast Asia. However, Honolulu has continued to see major growth in the domestic market as major airlines have added frequent and even non-stop links to large, previously unserved markets such as Phoenix, Denver and Cincinnati.

[edit] Future plans

The new terminal expansions (red) on Honolulu International Airport depicted as part of the $2.3 billion modernization program of the airport in 12 years.

On March 24, 2006, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle unveiled a $2.3 billion modernization program for Honolulu International Airport over a 12-year period. The plan involves implementing short-term projects within the first five years to improve passenger service and increase security and operational efficiencies. These include upgrades to the passenger terminals, ticket counters, baggage screening operations, runways and airport aprons, airport infrastructure such as air conditioning, restroom facilities, elevators, escalators, electrical systems, drains and sprinkler systems.

In addition, the plan incorporates improvements to comply with federal regulations on storm water systems, runway safety, perimeter security and crash fire safety. Long-term improvement projects include increasing the airports’ capacity and enhancing convenience and efficiency. These projects include constructing additional gates, ramp space and passenger loading bridges, increasing holding room capacity, and expanding public parking facilities.

[edit] Authority

Honolulu International Airport is part of a centralized state structure governing all of the airports and seaports of Hawaiʻi. The official authority of Honolulu International Airport is the Governor of Hawaiʻi. He or she appoints the Director of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation who has jurisdiction over the Hawaiʻi Airports Administrator.

The Hawaiʻi Airports Administrator oversees six governing bodies: Airports Operations Office, Airports Planning Office, Engineering Branch, Information Technology Office, Staff Services Office, Visitor Information Program Office. Collectively, the six bodies have authority over the four airport districts in Hawaiʻi: Hawaiʻi District, Kauaʻi District, Maui District and the principal Oʻahu District. Honolulu International Airport is a subordinate of the Oʻahu District officials.

[edit] Facilities

The Reef Runway

Honolulu International Airport has four major runways. The principal runway designated 8R/26L, also known as the Reef Runway, is the world's first major runway constructed entirely offshore. Completed in 1977, the Reef Runway is a designated alternate landing site for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space shuttle program in association with Hickam Air Force Base, which shares Honolulu International Airport's airfield operations.

In addition to the four paved runways, Honolulu International Airport has two designated offshore runways designated 8W/26W and 4W/22W for use by seaplanes.

The entire terminal complex features twenty-four hour medical services, restaurants, shopping centers and a business center with conference rooms for private use. Passengers have the option of using various short-term and long-term parking structures on the grounds of Honolulu International Airport.

Main roads leading to the Honolulu International Airport are Nimitz Highway and the Queen Liliuokalani Freeway of Interstate H-1.

[edit] Airlines, terminals and destinations

Honolulu International Airport has three terminal buildings. A fleet of Chance RT-52 buses provide interterminal transportation between the ticket counters of all three terminals and between the concourses in the Interisland and Main terminals. The buses, known as "Wiki Wiki" buses (from the Hawaiian word for "fast"), are the namesake for the WikiWikiWeb, and by extension, Wikipedia.

[edit] Commuter Terminal (Gates 71-80)

The Commuter Terminal serves smaller airlines which operate flights between the smaller airports in the island chain. go! uses gates 71-74,^[1] and Island Air uses gates 75-77.

[edit] Lobby 1

• Island Air (Hilo, Kapalua, Kahului, Lana`i, Molokai)
• Mesa Airlines
  • go! operated by Mesa Airlines (Hilo, Kahului, Kona, Lihue)
    • go!Express operated by Mokulele Airlines (Kapalua) [begins April 16, 2007]
• Mokulele Airlines (Kapalua, Lana`i)
• Pacific Wings (Hana, Kahului, Kalaupapa, Kamuela/Waimea, Lana`i, Moloka`i)

[edit] Interisland Terminal (Gates 49-64)

The Interisland Terminal mainly serves the interisland flights of Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines. It is designed to handle flights of jet aircraft between the major commercial airports in the Hawaiian Islands, and is also used by Aloha for flights to the west coast of the United States. Aloha uses gates 49-55, and Hawaiian uses gates 55-61.^[2]

[edit] Lobby 2

• Hawaiian Airlines (Anchorage, Hilo, Kahului, Kona, Las Vegas, Lihue, Los Angeles, Pago Pago, Papeete, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney)^[3]

[edit] Lobby 3

• Aloha Airlines (Hilo, Kahului, Lihue, Kona, Oakland, Orange County)

[edit] Main Overseas Terminal (Gates 6-34)

The Main Overseas Terminal serves U.S domestic, international, and some interisland destinations^[4]. All boarding gates in the Main Overseas Terminal at Honolulu International are common use, shared among all airlines, and may change daily as the need arises. No gates are assigned to any airline, although several legacy US-based and/or dominant carriers that fly into and out of HNL commonly use the following gates:^[5]

• American (Gates 16-20)
• ATA (Gates 14-23)
• Continental Domestic and International (Gates 12-16, 23-25)
• Delta (Gates 20-23)
• Hawaiian Domestic and International (Gates 23-34)
• Northwest Domestic and International (Gates 10-17)
• United Domestic and International (Gates 6-11)

Most international flights on airlines not listed above arrive and depart from the Ewa Concourse (Gates 26-34), which is closest to the International Arrivals Building. On February 5, 2007, the Hawaii State Department of Transportation announced a plan to construct a $10 million enclosed people-mover system to connect the third floor of the Ewa Concourse directly to the International Arrivals Building and the rest of the airport. Construction is to begin during Summer 2007 and last approximately 18 months.^[6]

[edit] Lobby 4

• Air Canada (Sydney [ends December 16, 2007], Vancouver)
• Air New Zealand (Auckland)
• Air Pacific (Christmas Island, Nadi, Vancouver)
• All Nippon Airways
  • Air Japan (Tokyo-Narita)
• Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Francisco)
• Harmony Airways (Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria) [ends April 9, 2007]
• Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
• Philippine Airlines (Manila)
• Qantas (Sydney)
  • Jetstar Airways (Melbourne, Sydney)
• WestJet (Vancouver)

[edit] Lobby 5

• Japan Airlines
  • Japan Airlines Charter Destinations: (Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Memanbetsu, Niigata, Sapporo-Chitose, Sendai, Takamatsu, Toyama)^[7]
  • JALways (Nagoya-Centrair, Osaka-Kansai, Tokyo-Narita)

[edit] Lobby 6

• ATA Airlines (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario, Phoenix)
• China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan, Tokyo-Narita)
• Omni Air International (Las Vegas)
• US Airways
  • US Airways operated by America West Airlines (Phoenix)

[edit] Lobby 7

• American Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco)
• Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Newark)
  • Continental Airlines operated by Continental Micronesia (Chuuk, Guam, Kosrae, Kwajalein, Majuro, Nagoya-Centrair, Pohnpei)
• Northwest Airlines (Anchorage [seasonal], Kahului [roundtrip], Kona [arrivals only], Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Osaka-Kansai, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, Tokyo-Narita)

[edit] Lobby 8

• United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, Osaka-Kansai, San Diego [Saturday Only], San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma [Saturday Only], Tokyo-Narita)

[edit] Disasters

There have been four major air traffic incidents that caused air traffic controllers and federal emergency officials at Honolulu International Airport to be placed on emergency alert. All four were disasters that resulted in fatalities, and one involved a global terrorist plot that some arguably consider a precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

• A bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 830 as it was preparing to approach Honolulu International Airport from Tokyo on August 11, 1982. One teenager was killed and 15 others were injured. The aircraft did not disintegrate, and made a safe emergency landing in Honolulu.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 after landing at Kahului Airport, 1988.

• Aloha Airlines Flight 243, flying from Hilo to Honolulu International Airport on April 28, 1988, experienced a rapid decompression. An 18 feet (5 m) section of the fuselage roof and sides were torn from the airplane, due to metal fatigue. Out of the 89 passengers and 6 crew members, the only fatality was a flight attendant blown out of the airplane. Several passengers sustained life-threatening injuries. The aircraft diverted to Kahului Airport with slight difficulty.

United Airlines Flight 811, the day after it made an emergency landing in Honolulu, 1989.

• United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747 carrying 3 flight crew, 15 cabin crew and 337 passengers from Honolulu to Auckland on February 24, 1989, suffered explosive decompression when a cargo door separated from the aircraft after takeoff from the Reef Runway. Nine passengers were swept from the aircraft and lost at sea. The plane returned to Honolulu.
• Oplan Bojinka, an al-Qaeda plot discovered by US and Filipino intelligence authorities after a fire on an American carrier at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, included in its first phase the planned explosion of several flights inbound to, or outbound from, Honolulu on January 21, 1995.

[edit] References

1. ^ go! website
2. ^ Hawaiian Airlines website
3. ^ Mainland and international gates for Hawaiian Airlines are located in the Main Overseas terminal, but ticket counters for all Hawaiian flights are located in the Interisland terminal.
4. ^ Northwest Airlines (Lobby 7) serves HNL-OGG five times weekly, and KOA-HNL twice weekly.
5. ^ FlyerTalk website: http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6787652
6. ^ Leidemann, Mike. "Airport to get cooler, easier with walkway", The Honolulu Advertiser, 2007-02-04. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
7. ^ Japan Airlines (2007-01-31). JAL Expands Charter Business. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.

[edit] External links

• Hawaii DOT page for Honolulu International Airport
• Honolulu International Airport Flight Information
• Hickam Air Force Base
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF)
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for PHNL
  • ASN Accident history for HNL
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for HNL
  • World Aero Data airport information for PHNL