FILE: Airplanes are fueled and loaded for the subsequent flight at Daniel Ok. Inouye Worldwide Airport in Honolulu.
Schooling Pictures/Common Pictures Group by way of Getty PicturesVacationers to Honolulu would possibly face delays of 20 to 40 minutes on common resulting from a brand new runway venture at Daniel Ok. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL), Hawaiian Airways advised SFGATE. The runway venture started in October 2022 and is inflicting operational issues which have led to lengthened gate-to-gate occasions for island-hopping flights.
“Sure noon flights out of Lihue and Maui, particularly, are being delayed 20-40 minutes every day as air site visitors management holds our neighbor island departures to present precedence to trans-Pacific arrivals into Honolulu,” a spokesperson for Hawaiian Airways mentioned.
The airline mentioned it is working with the Transportation Division to regulate interisland flight occasions and forestall delays, however the journey woes have already impacted passengers.
“She was caught on the tarmac for 45 minutes actually simply sitting within the aircraft and so they weren’t transferring,” an Oahu resident advised KHON2.
HNL is in the course of a nine-stage venture to regulate its west and middle runways, in keeping with the Federal Aviation Administration’s This fall-2022 Airport Building Impression Report, which incorporates widening the runways by 4,000 toes. The administration predicted 15-minute arrival/departure delays and elevated taxi occasions. The development is anticipated to run by 2024.
“The quantity of asphalt that it takes to resurface a runway means unbelievable coordination with all of the contractors to try this type of work across the island, and so attempting to get time schedules that each aligned that with FAA necessities and schedules may be very, very troublesome,” mentioned Hawaii Sen. Chris Lee, who sits on the Senate Committee on Transportation and Tradition and the Arts.
The final main venture at HNL was the opening of the Mauka Concourse in 2021. Building of the 230,000-square-foot concourse started in 2018 and created room for 11 narrow-bodied gates.
Vacationers are suggested to arrange for delays at HNL till development is full.
