The airlines have strongly renewed their objection to construction of a reef runway in the early 1970s, arguing there is no need to justify the staggering cost.

"You don’t spend $43 million before you need it," said Daniel C. Meenan, vice president of facilities and property for United Air Lines. "We simply see no need for a reef runway right now."

The airlines yesterday unveiled a second runway development plan for Honolulu Airport, which they said will handle all air traffic into the 1980s.

The plan eliminates the reef runway and instead calls for the following construction at a cost of $8 million:

1 – Extension of jet Runway 8-26 by 2,500 feet at the west end into Hickam Air Force Base.

2 – Addition of an earth berm, properly landscaped, off the west end to provide blast and acoustical protection, a move to alleviate noise in the area.

The airlines executives also said they will discuss "an equitable sharing of costs" in construction of a general aviation field in order to move light plane traffic from Honolulu Airport.

The airlines do not preclude the necessity for building an offshore runway in or beyond the 1980s but claim the State’s traffic forecasts are inflated for the coming decade.

E. Alvey Wright, chairman of the Airport Task Force and deputy director of transportation, disagreed:

"We have consistently underestimated your growth of operations or we wouldn’t be in the predicament we are in today. We can’t build airports as fast as you can fly planes here."

… The reasons that the airlines are so concerned over the price tag of the runway construction is that they will pay for the bulk of it through fuel taxes and a system of fees.