Posted on: Thursday, October 10, 2002
Airport plan alarms West Maui
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU — West Maui community leaders, concerned about growing isolation and public safety issues, reacted with anger yesterday upon learning the state is considering closing Kapalua Airport.
"It would be insulting, even criminal," said Joe Pluta, president of the West Maui Taxpayers Association.
Pluta and other leaders said closing the airport, which serves residents and tourists along the Ka'anapali Coast, would further isolate a community linked to the rest of Maui by a single two-lane highway that tends to be shut down by traffic accidents, brush fires and events related to public safety.
With no hospital in West Maui, the region would be that much more vulnerable to disaster, they said.
"Did they look at the safety issue?" said Jo Anne Johnson, council member from West Maui. "That's a much greater concern than profitability."
Gov. Ben Cayetano said yesterday that declining revenues in the aftermath of 9/11 had prompted an evaluation of whether the state should close or privatize Kapalua and four other state-run airports — Port Allen on Kaua'i, Upolu and Waimea on the Big Island and Dillingham on O'ahu.
Tourism from Japan was down by 19.8 percent in August from the previous August. Experts say people are spending less.
"Japan had been showing stronger signs of recovery earlier in the year," said Chris Kam, director of market trends for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau. "But that market has not rebounded as strongly or as steadily as others."
In a written statement, Cayetano said the state was obligated to support its airport system as a whole, and that closing the five "non-core" airports would result in saving $2 million annually.
"We would like to facilitate tourism and provide for tenant facilities and general aviation needs at these five airports. At the same time, we will prepare to close them if there is no private commercial interest," he said.
Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana said he had discussed the proposal with state Transportation Director Brian Minaai on Tuesday, and had come away confident that the state could find a private contractor.
Apana said the state did not have one in mind, but was hopeful of luring a firm that might be interested, for example, in catering to the numerous small corporate aircraft that travel to Maui.
But Pluta and others, who are not opposed to privatizing the airport, said closing it should not be an option.
"We live on a one-way, dead-end street that is falling in the ocean," Pluta said. "In the advent of a catastrophe, our only hope for getting out of here is that airport."
In addition to forcing more traffic onto heavily traveled Honoapi'ilani Highway, the closure would hurt the tourism industry, West Maui's main economic engine, business leaders said. David Roberts, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, said it would be a serious blow to area hotels and related businesses.
"It takes away yet another reason to choose Kapalua over Wailea," he said.
Marsha Wienert, head of the Maui Visitors Bureau, said the airport was an important marketing tool to attract high-end visitors who like having travel options. The airport provides easy access for tourists staying on the west side who fly in to Honolulu, she said.
Greg Kahlstorf, president of Kahului-based Pacific Wings Airlines, said closing Kapalua and the other airport it serves, Waimea-Kohala, would seriously impact his company.
"It seems the governor is not interested in helping small communities or small airlines," he said.
Pacific Wings stopped flying out of Kapalua a year ago because of a lack of maintenance facilities there. It recently bought new aircraft, however, and rescheduled service starting Nov. 1.
"We view West Maui as a growth market," Kahlstorf said. "It has the right profile of high-end travelers. It would be shortsighted to eliminate that."
Island Air, a subsidiary of Aloha Airlines Inc., operates five flights between Honolulu and Kapalua daily. Airline spokesman Stu Glauberman said the company was not prepared to comment on the governor's proposal.
Kapalua Airport was built by Hawaiian Airlines and sold to the state in 1995. Its use is generally restricted to commercial propeller air carriers and commuter/air taxi aircraft. There are no air cargo facilities, and the airport is open in the daytime only.
Kapalua reported handling 95,390 passengers last year, the most among the five airfields. About 36,000 passengers flew in and out of Dillingham, the only designated skydiving drop zone in the state.
Dillingham handled the most air operations — takeoffs and landings — of the five airfields, with 81,023 in 2001, according to airport statistics.
Both Kapalua and Port Allen reported an estimated 12,000 operations. Waimea-Kohala had about 5,000 and 'Upolu about 4,300 last year.
Advertiser staff writer Catherine E. Toth contributed to this report.
