Waimea-Kohala Airport


Waimea-Kohala Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile southwest of Kamuela, an unincorporated town in Hawai‘i County, Hawai‘i, United States.
Hawaiian Airlines began scheduled passenger service from the airport in November 1953. At present the only scheduled air service is by Mokulele Airlines, which offers twice daily service to Kahului, Maui.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 407 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 313 enplanements in 2009, and 47 in 2010. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-primary commercial service facility.

Facilities and aircraft

Waimea-Kohala Airport covers an area of at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 4/22 with an asphalt surface measuring.
The airport has one taxiway and an aircraft parking apron at the west end of the runway serving the passenger terminal and general aviation facilities. No fueling or airport traffic control tower facilities are provided. An aircraft rescue and fire fighting facility shares space in the airport maintenance facility.
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009, the airport had 2,000 aircraft operations, an average of 38 per week: 39% scheduled commercial, 33% air taxi, 25% general aviation, and 3% military. At that time there were 11 aircraft based at this airport: 64% single-engine and 36% glider.

Airline and destination

Mokulele Airlines serves the airport with Cessna 208EX Grand Caravan commuter turboprop aircraft.
Previously, Pacific Wings operated service to Honolulu and Kahului. Originally subsidized by the Essential Air Service program, Pacific Wings began serving Waimea-Kohala without subsidy on April 1, 2007. By May 2013, when reports emerged the airline was ending all service in Hawaii, the airline had already ceased serving Waimea-Kohala Airport. Mokulele Airlines, Schuman Aviation, and Pacific Wings submitted bids to the DOT to provide service at the airport, however only Mokulele and Schuman have proposed actual flights—Pacific Wings suggested two buses a day to Kona. On July 2, 2013 the US DOT awarded the contract to Mokulele Airlines for service to Kahului. Mokulele began operating flights to Waimea-Kohala on September 21, 2013.

Historical airline service

The airport previously had scheduled passenger jet service operated by Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, both of which referred to the airport as Kamuela in their respective system timetables during the 1960s. In 1966, Hawaiian Airlines was operating a daily Douglas DC-9-10 jet flight with a routing of Hilo - Kamuela - Kahului, Maui - Honolulu and was also serving the airport with Convair 640 turboprops on flights to Honolulu, Maui and Kona at this time. In 1968, Aloha Airlines was flying daily British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jet service with a routing of Kamuela - Kahului, Maui - Honolulu and was also operating flights with Vickers Viscount turboprops with daily nonstop service from Honolulu with this flight continuing on to Kona at this time.
In 1976, Hawaiian Airlines was operating daily McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jet service into the airport with a round trip routing of HNL-OGG-MUE. By 1981, Hawaiian Airlines was serving the airport with de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops on nonstop flights between Waimea and Kahului, Maui and Honolulu.