"We wanted to keep them all together and close to the airport so they would be ready to leave as soon as the pilot showed up," Ishikawa said.

The pilot and thousands of other people were stranded in the West Maui area after a major brushfire led Maui County officials to close Honoapi'ilani Highway throughout the night.

The highway reopened about 6:30 a.m. this morning.

Ishikawa said the US Airways flight was rescheduled to leave this morning.

Airport workers spent much of yesterday afternoon and evening using the airport's public address system to urge arriving passengers not to try to drive to the Lahaina and Ka'anapali resort areas.

"We also put the word out through the car rental companies," Ishikawa said,

He said the airlines were in a "catch-up mode" today trying to help get departing passengers on flights today who were stranded by the fire yesterday.

"We had this same kind of situation a year or two ago when a man drove an SUV into the terminal and tried to set it on fire," Ishikawa said. "It took a day or so to get things back to usual at the airport."

The fire, which began about 10:30 a.m. yesterday, has so far blackened about 1,000 acres in the Olowalu area and destroyed one home.