$739M project set for takeoff

After years of planning, the largest airport expansion in Hawaii’s history is finally taking off.

The ground breaks today on a sweeping four-year modernization of Honolulu Airport, starting with a new building for Aloha Air Cargo.

When construction wraps on the $739 million project, travelers using the main gateway to the islands will see two more concourses; a large central building for the airport’s rental car companies; wider taxiways to accommodate larger planes and other upgrades.

The expansion has been in the works since at least 2005, and Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO Mike McCartney said it’s long overdue for the fourth-largest port of entry to the United States.

"It’s the first impression our visitors have of Hawaii and it’s the last impression," McCartney said.

The effort doesn’t include an overhaul of HNL’s aging main and interisland terminals, parts of which date back to 1962. However, a separate project that is also underway will lend cosmetic changes to the main terminal, aimed at giving the space a stronger Hawaiian identity through new design and artwork.

"The Honolulu International Airport should reflect that Hawaii is the anchor of the Asia-Pacific region," Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in a statement. The expansion "represents a historic investment to help ensure a welcoming and positive experience for visitors and residents alike."

The airport served more than 7.6 million passengers in 2012 and has hovered around 8 to 10 million passengers annually since 2000, according to federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It helped deliver visitors who spent $14.3 billion across Hawaii last year, McCartney said — nearly $40 million a day.

With that in mind, he and other tourism officials said the airport must catch up to the new airports coming on line that get higher marks from passengers — particularly airports in Asia, which sends Hawaii a bevy of annual visitors.

Singapore’s Changi was ranked the world’s top airport in 2013 by the London-based airport rating firm SkyTrax Research. Four other airports in Asia — those in Seoul, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo — also made the top 10.

No U.S. airports made the top 10, and Honolulu did not make Skytrax’s list of the top 100.

McCartney said Honolulu Airport’s need for a facelift was the No. 1 issue raised by the authority’s travel partners in Japan.

"We are a world-class destination," he said. "We deserve a world-class airport."

The project will allow the airport to better handle passenger traffic during the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. rush, said Ford Fuchigami, deputy director of the Department of Transportation, Airports Division. Right now the airport has 55 spaces to park airplanes, including 52 gates. After expansion it will have 65 spaces including 58 gates, DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said.

The expansion will be paid for with fees collected by airport tenants — airline landing fees, Duty Free and retail tenant fees and other site charges, officials say.

While the airport upgrades might help Hawaii’s tourism in the long run, construction will likely affect residents using the airport during the next four years. The work is planned to have minimal effect on visitors, airport officials say, but the rental car companies will take half of the overseas parking terminal’s 2,000 spaces during the entire four-year period.

Drivers can park in the 1,800-space international lot if the (domestic) overseas lot’s 1,000 available public spaces are full, Sluyter said.

DOT officials say they’ve analyzed the parking and found the remaining 1,000 overseas lot spaces could handle the extra load during construction. However, they added this week their study was outdated because the project’s schedule has since changed and that they were unable to provide more details.

The Outdoor Circle, a longtime grass-roots group aimed at protecting Hawaii’s green scenery, has raised concerns that the airport project’s preliminary landscaping plans call for a net loss of 333 trees, including large trees such as monkey­pods, coconut palms and royal poincianas.

"To me, the gateway to paradise is about to lose its entire look of aloha," said Bob Loy, Outdoor Circle’s director of environmental programs. Too many trees will be lost to more concrete, steel and glass, Loy said, and Outdoor Circle is drafting an alternative to provide more green canopy.

DOT will work with Outdoor Circle on the final landscaping plans, Sluyter said.

The main lobby renovations, covered as part of a $74 million "explosive detections system" to better inspect baggage, should be finished this fall. Decorative blue glass, representing the Pacific Ocean, already adorns the United Airlines ticketing counter area in Lobby Eight. Similar lava-themed glasswork will soon adorn Lobby Seven, and airport officials say similar plans are in the works for Lobbies Four, Five and Six.

DOT also recently completed a $9 million escalator-replacement project and $11 million in concession-area upgrades, Sluyter said.

Longtime Honolulu architect Sid Snyder said the existing terminals still need a more comprehensive design overhaul.

"This one’s showing its age, not to Hawaii’s credit," Snyder said. In 1967, he worked for Vladimir Ossipoff when the acclaimed island architect helped redesign the airport just five years after it was built. The airport’s present-day demands — its growing shopping corridor and post-9/11 security setup — cram passengers in tight spaces and don’t make good use of the layout, Snyder said.

"It doesn’t hang together," he said. "The lobby doesn’t feel like a lobby. It feels a little out of date."

Les Enderton, executive director of the Oahu Visitors Bureau, said the expansion is nonetheless a critical step to greet Hawaii’s guests.

"We’ve still got a ways to go, but this is vitally needed," Enderton said. "I think we can, through renovating and upgrading, still make it a very pleasurable experience."