Kahului

A Legacy of Private Aviation

OGG originated as Naval Air Station Kahului in 1942. Following the culmination of WWII, negotiations between the Territory of Hawaii and the US Navy resulted in the air base being turned over to the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission. In 1948, the airport had two runways, one measuring 6,900 feet and the other 6,000 feet in length. As interisland operations had been operating from Puunene, on May 25th, 1951, the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission decided to move the operations to Kahului. A modernization program was immediately undertaken to convert the military airbase into a civilian airport. This included the clearance of wartime structures and the construction of a temporary passenger building. On June 24th, 1952, OGG opened to interisland passenger and freight operations. By 1955, there were three paved runways, 2/20 at 7,000 feet long, 5/23 at 5,000 feet long, and 17/35 at 5,000 feet long. At the time, OGG was served by Hawaiian Airlines and Trans-Pacific Airlines. Airport facilities included a joint passenger terminal building, a restaurant, a freight terminal building, and more. On October 2nd, 1958, a new air traffic control tower was completed. As airport traffic increased rapidly, it became apparent that a new terminal building would soon be needed. Construction began in earnest, and on June 25th, 1966, the new terminal building was dedicated, drawing high praise for its modern Hawaiian theme. By 1979, more improvements were necessary, including the construction of additions and alterations to the passenger and cargo terminal buildings and the parking lots. Moreover, a new taxiway was constructed, along with a terminal roadway and air cargo facilities. In 1985, the airport had once again outgrown its facilities. As such, work on a new Kahului Airport Terminal Complex began, which included additions and alterations to existing structures, roads, parking areas, aprons, a new terminal, runways, taxiways, and more. The new 267,000-square-foot Kahului Airport terminal building was dedicated on October 17th, 1990, at $42.6 million. It included a ticketing terminal, a group bus tour terminal, a two-story Central Building with airport administration offices, hold rooms, jetways, restaurants, and concessions. An airport master plan was created in the early 1990s. Phase one, which was to be completed by 1996, included the extension of runway 2/22 to 9,600 feet, the repaving and restrengthening of the said runway, the construction of new air cargo facilities, and more. The second phase, which was to be completed by 2002, included land acquisitions, additional cargo facility and apron improvements, new T-hangars, and the relocation of the airline ground support equipment facility. The Final Phase, which was to be completed by 2010, included the construction of Runway 2R/20L, the extension of the east side parallel taxiway for Runway 2L/20R, the further expansion of air cargo facilities, and more. In 2005, $365 million were allocated for the extension of the ticketing lobby, new baggage claim carousels, a new cargo building, 10 additional jetways, and a new six-lane airport access road. In 2019, a new consolidated rental car facility opened, featuring 3,700 parking spaces for rental cars, an electrical tram running to the terminal, and customer service counters.