Kona International Airport facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole Kahua Mokulele Kauʻāina o Kona
IATA: KOA ICAO: PHKO FAA LID: KOA
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Hawaii Department of Transportation
Serves	Island of Hawaii
Location	Kalaoa, Hawaii
Hub for	Mokulele Airlines
Elevation AMSL	47 ft / 14 m
Coordinates	19°44′20″N 156°02′44″W / 19.73889°N 156.04556°W / 19.73889; -156.04556 (Kona International Airport)
Map
FAA airport diagram
Runway
Runway Length Surface ft m 17/35 11,000 3,353 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Aircraft operations 65,758 Based aircraft 56 Total Passengers 4,972,70 Total Cargo (tons) 33,526
Source: Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation Hawaii

The Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole (IATA: KOA, ICAO: PHKO, FAA LID: KOA) is the main airport on the Island of Hawaiʻi. It is located in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, in the United States. This airport serves the western side of Hawaiʻi island. This includes popular resort areas like North Kona and South Kohala.

It is one of two international airports on Hawaiʻi island. The other is Hilo International Airport on the eastern side. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) considers it a "small-hub primary commercial service facility." This means it's an important airport for commercial flights.

Airport History

Building the Airport

A large part of the runway was built on a lava flow from 1801. This lava flow came from the Hualālai volcano. It added about 1 mile (1.6 km) of new land to the island. This new land created Keāhole Point.

The airport opened on July 1, 1970. It had one runway that was 6,500 feet (1,981 meters) long. Before this, there was a smaller airstrip. That old airstrip is now a state park.

Construction workers used a lot of dynamite to flatten the bumpy lava. They finished the airport in just 13 months. In its first year, over 500,000 passengers used the new open-air terminals.

How the Airport Got Its Name

The airport has had a few different names over the years.

When it first opened in 1970, it was called the Ke-āhole Airport. This name came from its location at Keāhole Point. The point itself was named after the ʻāhole fish, which are found in the area.

In 1993, the airport's name changed to Keāhole-Kona International Airport. This was to include the nearby resort town of Kona. Then, in 1997, the name was changed again to Kona International Airport at Keāhole. This put more focus on the Kona area.

On January 8, 2017, the airport was renamed Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole. This was to honor astronaut Ellison Onizuka. He was born and grew up in Kona. He sadly died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Airport's Effect on Tourism

Before 1970, most tourists went to Hilo on the eastern side of the Big Island. If they wanted to visit Kona, they had to fly to Hilo. Then, they had to drive almost two hours across the island. This became a problem as big resorts started opening in Kona around 1968.

When the new airport opened, it helped tourism move from East Hawaii to West Hawaii. Tourism in Hilo had already been affected by a tsunami in 1960. That tsunami destroyed all the hotels along the coast.

By 2005, about 86% of all hotels on the island were on the west side. The airport helped the population of Hawaii County grow a lot. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people living there increased by 48%.

Airport Expansion

In the 1970s, Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines were the main carriers. They flew between Kona and other Hawaiian islands like Honolulu on Oahu, Kahului on Maui, and Lihue on Kauai.

By 1985, United Airlines started flying nonstop to Kona from Los Angeles and San Francisco. They used large jets like the Douglas DC-8-71 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

In 1991, a small museum opened at the airport. It was called the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center. It had cool exhibits like a piece of lunar soil and a spacesuit.

In 1994, the airport's runway was made longer, to 11,000 feet (3,353 meters). This made it the second-longest runway in the Hawaiian Islands. Only Honolulu had a longer one. The longer runway meant bigger planes could land. This allowed nonstop flights from Kona to Tokyo and other places in the United States.

Japan Airlines (JAL) started a Kona-Tokyo flight in 1996. This route was stopped for a while but restarted in 2017. Hawaiian Airlines also started nonstop flights to Tokyo's Haneda Airport in 2016. Both airlines stopped their Tokyo flights during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, a new international arrivals building was built. JAL started its Tokyo-Kona route again in August 2022.

A big project started in March 2017 to combine the airport's two separate terminals. This project created one central security area. It also allowed passengers to use shops and restaurants in both parts of the terminal. The Onizuka Space Center closed in 2016 to make way for this expansion. The airport was renamed after Onizuka in 2017.

Airport Facilities and Aircraft

The airport's former control tower (taken down in 2014)

Passengers getting on a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717 plane

Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole covers about 2,700 acres (1,093 hectares). It is 47 feet (14 meters) above sea level. It has one asphalt runway, 17/35, which is 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) long and 150 feet (46 meters) wide.

In the year ending November 30, 2021, the airport had 87,770 aircraft operations. This means about 240 planes took off or landed each day. Most of these were general aviation (private planes), followed by scheduled commercial flights. In March 2022, 56 aircraft were based at this airport. These included single-engine planes, multi-engine planes, helicopters, and ultralights.

Passenger Terminal

The state government of Hawaiʻi runs the airport. It has a runway and a terminal area. This area includes buildings for passengers, air cargo, mail, and airport support.

The passenger area has several open-air, tropical-style buildings. These are divided into three terminals. Terminal 1 has gates 1 to 5, and Terminal 2 has gates 6 to 10. Terminal 3 is for smaller commuter flights. Kona International is the only major airport in Hawaii where passengers still use mobile stairs or ramps to board planes. Most other airports use modern jet bridges. Even with these older facilities, large planes like the Airbus A321 and A330, and Boeing 717, 737, 757, 767, and 777 use Kona.

Airlines and Destinations

Passenger Flights

Cargo Flights

Airport Statistics

Passenger Numbers

Airline Market Share

Top Destinations

Accidents and Incidents

• On August 25, 1977, a cargo plane crashed while trying to land at Keahole Airport. The pilot and passenger did not survive.
• On September 10, 1989, a pilot had to make an emergency landing due to engine trouble. The plane crashed near the runway, resulting in one death and one serious injury.
• On June 21, 2022, a small plane had a problem with its landing gear. The runway was blocked for 3 hours, and some incoming flights had to go to other airports. The pilot was not hurt.
• On January 16, 2024, cracks were found in the runway. The airport had to close temporarily for repairs. It reopened the next morning.

See also

In Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Kona para niños

• List of airports in Hawaii