Posted on: Sunday, December 15, 2002

Some parking stalls at airport still closed

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

About 140 parking stalls near Honolulu International Airport's Neighbor Island terminal will remain off-limits while the state evaluates security concerns.

The stalls have been closed by federal order since Sept. 11, 2001, to protect against bombs in vehicles near planes and terminal buildings.

The government has announced a lifting of its ban on parking within 300 feet of airport terminal buildings as long as the terrorist threat remains at or below code yellow, the middle of a five-point scale of risk developed after the attacks.

State officials, however, said they are still evaluating the security of the parking stalls, which are on the fourth floor of the Neighbor Island parking structure and adjacent to or above terminal operations.

"It will be at least early next year before we can reopen the stalls," said Davis Yogi, airports administrator for the state Transportation Department.

Yogi said the state still has to develop a bomb incident management plan for the Honolulu airport and replace a chainlink fence in the parking structure with a more closely knit wire mesh before the stalls can be cleared for use.

"Our situation is a little more complicated than other airports because some of the parking is directly above the terminals," he said. "We have to not only worry about a bomb causing damage in outward directions, but downward as well."

Stu Glauberman, a spokesman for Aloha Airlines, said the loss of the parking stalls has been an inconvenience but not a hardship for Neighbor Island travelers.

"Our customers understand security concerns and haven't complained, but it will be nice to have those stalls open again," he said.

Aloha Airlines also was forced to suspend its popular drive-through check-in service on the fourth floor of the parking structure after the attacks, Glauberman said. "We look forward to having the service again," he said.

Yogi said the loss of the 140 parking stalls has contributed to congestion at the interisland parking structure, but that travelers have learned to park elsewhere in the airport complex.

Other airports across the nation had been pressing the new Transportation Security Agency to ease the rules on parking restrictions for months. Not only had airports been losing money because of the parking restrictions, but some also had to pay to develop new parking facilities or bus travelers to the terminal from outlying areas.

"Ultimately, that's something we have to consider," Yogi said. "We may have develop other alternatives that provide safe parking."