Honolulu International Airport

The Pacific Ocean is a vast gulf, nearly impossible to get across without a lot of effort and advanced technology. If there were no stopover point, the journey would be extremely difficult. Fortunately for airline companies and the millions upon millions of satisfied passengers who use them, there is exactly one such stopover point, dead centered in the middle of the Pacific, a place one would never have really expected such a point to be. That place is the Island chain of Hawaii. On that island chain, the main airport used by commercial airliners from around the world is the Honolulu International Airport.

Because the Honolulu International Airport is the stopover point for across the Pacific flights connecting North and South America with Australia and Asia, it is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Passengers pass through the Honolulu International Airport, millions every year, on their way across the ocean from the States to Japan, or from China to South America, or from Canada to Australia or New Zealand - it's no wonder, then, that the Honolulu International Airport is as absolutely frenetically busy as it is.

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Because of its location, the Honolulu International Airport is the home hub for two major airlines which service the Pacific ocean and offer relatively cheap transportation to passengers around the western hemisphere and Pacific coastlines. Those two airlines based at the Honolulu International Airport are Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines. There are more airlines based at the Honolulu International Airport, of course, but these are the two largest. It's also a focus airport for several other large airlines offering service across the Pacific either just between Hawaii and Asia or Hawaii and North America, or full service between the Americas and Asia and Australia. A few of these airlines that use the Honolulu International Airport as a focus airport are Northwest Airlines, ATA Airlines, and Japan Airlines.

The two main airlines based at the Honolulu International Airport offer service to the North American continent as well as short range transportation throughout the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago itself - a culture based on a series of islands requires easy transportation where a system of roads is impossible, so a large section of the two airlines' incomes comes from inter-island transportation from Hawaiian natives and visiting tourists wanting to visit a few of the other islands. Many people even stay in Honolulu for the duration of their stay while taking day trips to the rest of the islands on one of those two airlines.

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The Honolulu International Airport has been in operation for a long time - since 1927, in fact. Of course, when it opened it wasn't actually referred to as the Honolulu International Airport - when opened, it was called the John Rodgers Airport, named after a naval officer in the First World War. At the time territorial legislature and the Chamber of Commerce funded it. It was actually the first fully operational airport in the Hawaiian archipelago - before it opened, aircraft had been limited to using smaller airstrips or seaplane docks. One advantage of an island culture, of course, is easy access to plenty of water for seaplanes to land.

The John Rodger Airport gained its present name - Honolulu International Airport - in 1947, shortly after the Second World War. Even then, it was used, as a stopover point for trans-Pacific flights, and, by 1950, was the third busiest airport in the whole of the United States. The first jets flew through the Honolulu International Airport nine years later in 1959 when Qantas began its first get service between Australia and California.

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These days, technology is increasing at a very fast rate, and planes can fly farther than ever. One effect that has on the Honolulu International Airport as a stopover point is that many modern aircraft are fully capable of making the trip across the entire Pacific without a stopover at the Honolulu International Airport. This lack of requirement for airlines to stop at the Honolulu International Airport en route between Asia and Australia and the Americas has produced a notable decrease in international traffic through the Honolulu International Airport, especially to places like southeastern Asia or Australia. However, as Hawaii becomes a more popular tourist destination, domestic travel from the States has increased significantly with the advent of the same technology - airports like Phoenix, Denver, and Cincinnati can now offer nonstop flights to the Honolulu International Airport, allowing tourists from all around the country to far more easily visit Hawaii and the wealth of tourist destinations located there.

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The Honolulu International Airport, like many major international airports, has big plans for its future. In fact, the governor of Hawaii - Linda Lingle - unveiled a modernization plan worth almost two and a half billion dollars in 2006. The plan would involve many improvements to the Honolulu International Airport over a period of twelve years, including short term projects over the first five years for basic passenger service and security, as well as larger projects like storm water systems, increasing the Honolulu International Airport's overall capacity, adding gates and additional ramps, and increasing parking and holding room capacity.

The short term projects predicted over the next five years or so include smaller goals like adding new restroom facilities, improving passenger service facilities, streamlining security and adding security checkpoints to facilitate passenger flow through security, and adding ticket counters and baggage handling facilities. These projects, if completed successfully, would make it much easier for passengers to move through the airport, and would increase capacity at an airport already positively straining for that increase. Despite dire predictions after the September 11th attacks, airline sales and global air travel are only going to become more popular and more common as people get richer and air transportation gets cheaper. To respond to that increase in traffic, the Honolulu International Airport is making the appropriate improvements.

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The government itself essentially manages the Honolulu International Airport - thus the announcement being made by Hawaii's governor and not a private shareholder or CEO. There is, in fact, a centralized state run infrastructure in place and in authority over all of the airports in Hawaii - the official authority at the Honolulu International Airport, in fact, is the governor of Hawaii herself; she appoints the director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation. That director in turn has authority over the Hawaii Airports Administrator, who had authority over the Honolulu International Airport itself.

The Hawaii Airports Administrator runs more than just the Honolulu International Airport - there are several districts in Hawaii, each divided into individual airports. These divisions, not surprisingly, take place on the basis of individual islands. Honolulu International Airport specifically is subordinate to the Oahu District, and under the authority of the Oahu district officials.

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The Honolulu International Airport has an unusually large and complex takeoff and landing system in place - its cutting edge technology control tower simultaneously manages four different runways - an unusually large number of runways even when compared to most other international airports. The longest of those runways, laid out at a direction of 8L/28R, is 3749 meters long - long enough by far to land any aircraft built by the hand of man, and perfect for landing the long range flights stopping over at Hawaii en route to Asia or the Americas. Its three other asphalt runways are 3658 meters - again, large enough for just about any aircraft in modern skies - 2743 meters, and 2119 meters. All of these are fairly long runways, and are well used by aircraft from around Hawaii and around the world.

Because of the island nature of Hawaii, seaplanes are also heavily used, and the Honolulu International Airport offers two water "runways." Because of the natural braking action water has on a seaplane as well as the relatively small size of most seaplanes, these water runways are much shorter than their asphalt counterparts, lined out at 1524 meters and 914 meters. These are "designated offshore runways," which means that they are just constructs laid out in the instrumentation for seaplanes to use in an orderly fashion.

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Passengers looking to get into Honolulu and travel throughout the rest of Hawaii after landing at the Honolulu International Airport have plenty of options available, some of them unique to the island nature of Hawaii. The most basic access is, of course, the road - the Honolulu International Airport is accessed by both the Nimitz Highway and the Queen Liliuokalani Freeway, or Interstate H-1. Common methods of transportation on those roads are taxis, busses, and private rental cars, available from one of the assorted rental services based on the grounds of the Honolulu International Airport.

To get to the other Hawaiian Islands, the aspiring tourist has a number of options available. There are smaller flights, often hosted by one of the Hawaii-based airlines, which offer relatively cheap transportation throughout the rest of the Hawaiian Islands. There are also ferry services, boat services, and plenty of other options - if you are using a travel agent, he or she should be able to arrange transportation anywhere in the islands for your personal use. Just ask and pretty much anything can happen.

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So why would you use the Honolulu International Airport? Need you ask? Think of all the things Hawaii is famous for - amazing surfing, perfect weather year round, tropical beaches, wildlife, jungles, mountains, and just about everything you could possibly want. In fact, many people consider Hawaii to be just about as close to paradise as it's possible to get to on Earth. And, as we said earlier, long range non stop flights are now offered from all over the United States - and even if your local airport doesn't offer direct service, the Honolulu International Airport is only a stop away. Think about it - if you ordered your tickets now, you could be there in less than forty-eight hours. That is a beautiful thought.

Of course, it usually takes more time than that to plan a vacation. But, if you think about it, that's really all right - a good vacation might need good plans, so plan ahead and get the best possible results out of your time spent in Hawaii. Who knows - once you show up and stay awhile you might just decide not to leave. Whatever the case, if Hawaii is paradise, the Honolulu International Airport would be the pearly gates - and checking for flights never hurt anything. After all, you're only thinking about it. Hypothetically. Right? Famous last words: better start looking for those Hawaiian shirts and packing that luggage right now.

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