While airports struggle to increase economic capacity, the carefully crafted solution offered to Hawaii’s Legislature clocked out — expired. Yes, Senate Bill 658 died in committee while airport stakeholders and master plan seek direction, and general aviation tries to correct state dysfunctions. How is that possible?

We must ask ourselves why an airport authority is universally successful in all other states and throughout the connected civilized world — yet we fear failure here in paradise? Some of the most efficient, spectacular, award-winning “top ten” airports in the world strategically operate an authority structure — i.e., Incheon, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.

Are we compelled to reinvent the wheel or is it a profound fear of the unknown? Fears expressed by labor, bureaucrats and lawmakers were not convincingly articulated. Nevertheless, these fears were answered in good faith with testimony from experts, conclusive facts and case studies to satisfy nearly every specific worry.

Assertions abound from inside the state bubble that the airport infrastructure will somehow implode without state control; that does not square with the facts. And equating the ill-crafted regulation-loaded subsidy-seeking Hawaii Health Systems Corp. to an autonomous airport authority is a flawed comparison. Concerns raised by the attorney general for state appropriations is extraneous with no need to filter federal funds; actually there’s no practical need for the state at all but to father the law.

The tourism consortium, airlines and airline passengers simply want sensible progress and unfettered airport management. By now, all should see that a completely hands-off approach by the state is the best way forward. Let the specialists work with no state appropriations filter, no excessive state procurement hurdles, and allow the new agency to partner with the current assimilated employees as their own, for goodness sake, not through the state human resources gatekeepers. Then and only then will our citizen passengers get the airport they deserve.

Aviation is crucial to Hawaii and we have many unmet challenges. Where choices must be made, the economic pipeline must remain robust. The self-funding system may yield some low-performing business units in need of sponsorship, but these selective opportunities can be isolated and appropriately addressed. What Hawaii should recognize are the “best practices” throughout our ever-shrinking planet, and evolve appropriately. Let’s replace conjecture with hard facts, challenge ourselves to champion these changes and place the right tools into the right hands.

Airport authorities have successfully proliferated over the past 40 years with impressive results and no failures. While we study our belly buttons in angst, the incalculable opportunity cost continues to rise. The only reasonable way to achieve change while we are young is complete state divestiture of the airport levers and processes.

Inexplicably, those in the State Machine who cling to their byzantine maze of regulations and endless approvals must themselves now wait another eight months for the usual “procession of advocates” to kiss another dozen rings and wait in line yet a third time to discuss this mess — oh, the irony. All this has left our wonderful world-class destination and its airport system in the Pacific doldrums floundering as the world watches, and wonders — again.

The 2018 session will need legislative leaders to engage with the proponents to defeat the weak arguments against this proven success formula. With due respect, with all that is at stake, they should come without fear to bruise some egos, skin some political knuckles, and finally do the right thing for our citizens by getting this streamlining law off the ground.

The airport authority will be the creation of a proud state when it ultimately flies. And, by planning for success, not fearing failure, fly it will.

Richard Hill is a 16-year Hawaii resident and former board chairman for Reno Tahoe Airport Authority.