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Airport plan back
on drawing board

Airlines ask the state to hold off
extending the length of runways
on Maui and Kauai

By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- The controversial runway extensions planned for both Kauai and Maui have been shelved at least temporarily and maybe permanently, as the result of a decision by the state Aviation Division to rewrite its airport construction plan.

The plan is being rewritten at the request of airlines.

"There are some parts of that construction plan we believe are absolutely essential," Deputy Transportation Director Glenn Okimoto said yesterday. "The runway extensions at Lihue and Kahului are not among them. Both are definitely under review."

"The runway extensions aren't dead," said aviation Administrator Jerry Matsuda.

But he added: "The airlines have informed us that, based on the type of aircraft that are being used now and will be used in the near future, they don't want the extensions at this time."

Environmentalists on both islands have been waging virtual wars against the tourism industry to try to keep direct jumbo-jet flights from Asia and Europe off of their islands.

The reasons range from the danger of introducing alien plant and animal species to a desire to stop the growth of tourism.

On Maui, the seven-year dispute over lengthening the main runway to 10,000 feet from 7,000 feet has been in and out of court and is the subject of a contested-case hearing before the state Land Use Commission.

Kauai hunts compromise

The Maui Visitors Bureau executive director, Marsha Wienert, said she feels confident the runway extension at Kahului ultimately will be built.

"There's too much time and dollar investment in the Kahului one for them to say they're going to defer it," she said.

On Kauai, the battle over stretching the main runway from to 10,000 feet from 6,000 feet began only in 1998.

The County Council has enlisted the help of an alternative dispute resolution team from the state Judiciary to try to find some room for compromise between pro-development and anti-growth forces.

"This is good news," said Judy Dalton, head of the Sierra Club on Kauai. "I'm hoping the runway extension never is built."

John Thatcher, head of the 28-member Airlines Committee of Hawaii, said his group "voted quietly" in November to ask the Aviation division to review its construction plans from top to bottom.

Thatcher said that the plans fail to recognize both advances in technology and declines in revenue.

Parts of those plans were written more than 10 years ago when the Boeing 747 was the only aircraft capable of reaching Hawaii from Europe and Asia. Its size and weight required 10,000-foot runways, and that is what was proposed for Lihue and Kahului.

"Now we have smaller, long range 777s and 767s that can land on Maui and 757s that fly every day to Lihue," Thatcher said.

"We need to look at whether we really need to spend the money on longer runways.

"We're not saying they shouldn't ever be built, but we're suggesting the state look at deferring them,"he added.

Cost is the great issue

Money is the real issue.

The major problem is the nosedive in earnings by the duty-free stores at the airports. They provide 37 percent of the $284 million that goes into the airport construction fund every year.

Under the existing contract, the stores must pay $108 million, or 20 percent of their gross revenues, whichever is greater. The stores earned less than half of the $500 million they projected they would gross last year. They paid the minimum $108 million, but it was close to 40 percent of their revenue, Okimoto said.

The contract is up for negotiation next year, and Okimoto said it's unlikely that the duty free stores will be willing to sign another agreement giving up nearly half of their income.

That means the airlines would have to pick up the slack in the construction fund, which is estimated to be about an extra $40 million a year they would have to pay.

And that's why they're asking the state to look at all of its construction plans and weed out what isn't needed.

Date for new plan not known

The Aviation Division has agreed to put together the data and draft a new plan for review by the House Finance Committee.

They've agreed to go back and look at all their construction plans and determine whether there is adequate funding, said Rep. Ezra Kanoho, whose district on Kauai includes the Lihue Airport.

"It may be there's not enough funding for either runway or plenty of money for both, we just don't know yet. But if there's only enough for one, my guess is that it will go to Kahului because they have much more air traffic," Kanoho said.

There is some disagreement over how soon a new construction plan will emerge. Matsuda said it won't be out until next summer. Kanoho said the Finance Committee expects a recommendation in about a month.