Last week the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation announced a major Honolulu International Airport Expansion initiative.
The Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, formerly known as the Honolulu International Airport is in the midst of a major modernization program. This seemingly decades-long project has thus far resulted in new parking facilities, a new people mover, and a new hanger for Hawaiian Airlines. Ultimately, though, the project will include HNL’s first-ever CONRAC, new facilities for Aloha Air Cargo, a new employee parking lot, relocation of the commuter air terminal, and a new Mauka Concourse for Hawaiian Airlines.
However, last week, the State of Hawaii announced a change to these plans. Rather than develop a new commuter air terminal next to the existing Diamond Head Concourse, this aging concourse will undergo an expansion instead.
Expansion Plans
With Mokulele Air being the only remaining commuter airline, the State thought it unwise to invest in a new terminal. This is especially true as activity at HNL continues to grow at a rapid pace. In fact, there are not enough gates to allow all carriers to expand as they please. Especially as competition at Honolulu ramps up between Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, and United. So, to remedy the issue, the Department of Transportation announced a $1.1 billion project to build a new Diamond Head Concourse.
The new terminal will replace the existing, 50-year-old building. It’ll also up the number of wide-body gates from the current seven to 12 to 14. And, in the future, the terminal may accommodate up to 21 gates. It’ll also include a new Customs Facility with a capacity to process 4,000 passengers per hour.
It isn’t clear if the existing terminal will be torn down or simply expanded upon yet. However, construction won’t begin for another five years. During this time, the employee parking lot and Wiki-Wiki Shuttle base yard will be relocated to make way for the larger terminal. The entire project will take at least 10 years to complete. However, State Officials say the establishment of a private airport authority could speed the process.
Honolulu International Airport Expansion, Final Thoughts
I think this expansion project is a fantastic idea and one that’s long overdue. However, I do think 10 years is much too long, especially since we need additional space now. And the lack of a commuter terminal, in my opinion, could make it more difficult for a new inter-island competitor to establish itself. But, at the very least, I hope the Diamond Head Concourse project will at least pave the way for better organization at HNL. It would be nice, after all, to have better co-location.
On only a slightly related note… I’ll be flying LIH – HNL. I’ll need to get my bags and then recheck in to AA.
Would you happen to have an estimate on how long between arrival on Hawaiian and departure on AA I should plan for?
Thanks
Patrick, I’m sorry to hear you’ll need to go through that. Hawaiian isn’t the quickest in getting your bags out, so keep that in mind when planning. Further, Hawaiian’s inter-island flights arrive in the inter-island terminal, which are gates 49-61. If you arrive at gates 49-53, that means a 5-10 minute walk to the Hawaiian Airlines baggage claim. From there, you’ll need to take a 10-15 minute walk to American’s ticket lobby. Depending what time of day you’re flying, TSA lines can be rather long. You’ll likely need to go through USDA Ag screening before dropping your bag too. From there, you’re looking at another 5-minute walk to the Central Concourse, gates 14-23 for American Air. I’d give myself AT LEAST 2 hours to get through all of this. However, my own experience with Hawaiian involves a lot of delays, even though they’re #1 for on-time reliability in the U.S., so I’d probably give myself a little more time than that. The Admirals Club at HNL is shared with Japan Airlines, meaning free food and alcohol and is a decent place to hang out if you have extra time. If you have Priority Pass, you could also kill time at Hawaiian Air’s Plumeria Lounge if it’s open.
Thanks… I’ll probably shoot for 2 1/2 to 3 hours then. And if I have to hang around a bit extra… no place better than to hang around than HNL. (IMHO)
Just checked out the Plumeria Lounge… closes at 6:00? Seems kind of early for a lounge to close.
Yup, sure is. They have VERY odd hours of operation.
– M, W, F: 9 am to 6 pm
– T, Th, Sa: 9 am to 9:30 pm
And with the way Hawaiian times the flights that use the lounge, it almost excludes passengers on other carriers from using it. At least in my experience. Not once have I been able to use the lounge flying out of HNL, though almost all my flights are red eye. Makes me wonder if Hawaiian: a) doesn’t understand the purpose of being part of the Priority Pass Network (for them, anyway) or b) they do understand and just want to limit costs as much as possible so they’ll only accept Priority Pass customers when they need to use the lounge?
Great article and I too think a major renovation is long overdue but shouldn’t the state finish the current projects. Hawaiian Air had to come out of pocket to finish the maintenance facility and the state hasn’t even started on the mauka terminal project. Do you think this would be a great time for Hawaiian Air to switch its expansion plan and relocate to the diamond head concourse? It will give them additional widebody gate space and interisland jet bridges could be constructed. The views for pax will be better than looking at a prison and maintenence facility. It will be easier for interisland connections between partners and direct connection to the CONRAC. The current interisland could be used by Alaska and American, carriers flying single isle aircraft to Hawaii. What are your thoughts on this and do you know of any plans for Hawaiian to make a move with the new CEO?
Malaho, Kevin! Yes, Hawaiian’s new hanger project was a hot mess and doesn’t give me confidence in the rest of the modernization project. But that is an interesting concept you’re proposing to have Hawaiian switch to the Diamond Head Concourse. It certainly would offer much better views and give them better flexibility. However, that would mean that they’d also have to move their ticket lobby and baggage claims, both of which are very specific to the Airline now. Further, their lounges are all on the Ewa end of the airport, though I’m sure lounges could be included in the construction of the new terminal. Co-location with partners would be a welcome change, though I doubt the penny-pinching Hawaiian would spend bucks just for that. Hawaiian may also be better served with more narrow-body jet bridges going forward too, as the bulk of their fleet will soon be comprised of 717s and A321neos. In fact, there’s speculation that Hawaiian may up its A321neo orders and return leased A330-200s in the early 2020s. But we’ll just have to wait and see. I doubt Peter Ingram will do much to change the current status quo, at least in the near-term. But I’d never say never, especially since Hawaiian is at an interesting and crucial point in its growth.