KAHULUI AIRPORT

This is a special page for me. My mother's family has lived on Maui for almost a hundred years, and with the exception of a few people (including my arm of the family), still lives there. I grew up flying in and out of OGG's old terminal on our annual trips to visit relatives - of the airports profiled on this site, it's probably the only old terminal I remember with any detail. This page will have some of my own memories scattered throughout.


Looking across the OGG ramp from the old control tower, sometime in the 1980s. The original 1966 terminal is at left (the two-story section) while the 1970s gate extension is at right.

Kahului Airport was opened on the site of the former Kahului Naval Air Station in 1951, replacing Maui's former civilian airport at Puunene. The airfield was equipped with a 7,000-foot main runway (left over from the NAS days) and two shorter runways. Interisland carriers Hawaiian Airlines and Trans-Pacific (later Aloha) moved flights over from Puunene on May 25, 1951.

For the first 15 years the airlines operated from two wooden sheds that had been left on the site by the military. These were located on the southern perimeter of the airport, where the heliport is located today. By the mid-1960s, however, both Hawaiian and Aloha were preparing to begin jet operations, and it was clear the original buildings were no longer adequate.

Ground was broken on February 1, 1965, for a new 'modern' terminal for Maui. It would be even larger than the interisland terminal at busy Honolulu International Airport on neighboring Oahu. The location for the new terminal was across the runway from the old one, on land formerly occupied by naval barracks.

The building was completed on June 25, 1966. As originally configured, it was comprised of a single two-story structure. The majority of the building was taken up by the lobby - a cavernous space that was left completely open to the elements on the side facing away from the airfield. A plot of coconut palms was planted in the center of the lobby; a round opening in the ceiling allowed them to poke out. Ticket counters for Aloha and Hawaiian were situated on the east wall of the lobby; a newsstand and gift shop were placed opposite the counters.


Close-up and far views of the OGG terminal shortly after its 1966 opening, with two Hawaiian Convairs parked on the apron. The landscaped garden area fronting the terminal (see the photo above) has not yet been constructed.

Departing passengers checked in inside the lobby, then waited in a single holdroom on the south edge of the building. There were two gates, one for each carrier. When a flight was called, passengers walked outside through a landscaped garden area to their aircraft, which lined up on the apron beyond. (See the above photo.)

Arriving passengers walked to the western edge of the building and passed through a chain-link fence to the baggage claim area. Luggage carts were driven in and parked, and passengers simply walked up and took their bags.

A full-service restaurant and coffee shop were located on the second floor. My mom was 13 when the new terminal opened, and remembers that the "happening" thing to do was go to OGG to have dinner in the restaurant and watch the planes come and go.


Another view from the tower across the ramp, probably from the late 1970s or early 1980s. All of the Hawaiian Air DC9s are probably going to Honolulu; OGG-HNL is one of the ten busiest air routes in the nation. Aloha and Hawaiian run flights back and forth every thirty minutes.

The building was able to cope with traffic demands very well, although a two-gate extension on the east side was built in the mid-1970s. Hawaiian moved into the new gates, while Aloha stayed in the original two gates. A new interisland carrier, Mid-Pacific Air, was created after Deregulation in 1981.

Nonstop charter flights to the Mainland began in 1975; as Honolulu International became more congested, state officials began urging the trunk carriers to start flights to OGG. United was the first to agree, and in 1983 began running DC8s and DC10s to San Francisco and Los Angeles. American and Western followed suit in 1984, Western with nonstops to Los Angeles and American with one-stop service to Dallas/Fort Worth via Honolulu.

To handle the increase in flights, two new baggage claim areas were built, on the west side of the terminal. They were open-air but had moving belts to carry the luggage from the ramp. Belts were also installed in the existing baggage claim area. At the rear of the main lobby, new ticket counters for American and Western (which was acquired by Delta in 1987) were installed, and the original gate holdroom was extended to add more seating and gates. In 1984, the palm trees growing through the terminal's roof were removed and the hole covered by a glass skylight. A freestanding commuter terminal for small aircraft was built in 1987.


A diagram of OGG in 1987, showing the building's final configuration and the extension (at the top of the building) of the original holdroom and baggage claim area.


A Hawaiian Air DC9 unloads passengers at OGG in the early 1980s. Photo by Mel Lawrence


A view of OGG in the mid 1980s. The tail of a United DC8 is visible at right, parked at the holdroom extension built in the 1970s. Note the 1958-vintage old control tower on the right; it was replaced in 1988 by a modern facility. I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture.


A baggage handler poses in front of a United DC10 at OGG in 1984. The edge of the terminal is visible in the background, as is the garden area fronting the apron.
From the 1984 United Airlines annual report

Design for a new terminal complex began in 1985; the 1966 building had reached its functioning capacity. The new complex would be built on the existing site; plans called for retaining the main terminal as a baggage claim hall. Construction began in 1987 on the first phase. It was completed in September of 1990 and included eight gates, concession space and a new ticketing hall, as well as the first escalators on the island of Maui.


An aerial view of OGG upon completion of the new terminal's first phase in 1990. The old terminal building is at left, and is being remodeled into a new baggage claim hall. Construction on an additional 15 gates beyond the old terminal is also getting underway. The old control tower once stood where the new central terminal is today. Photo by Douglas Peebles, from the Corbis Collection

The old terminal closed shortly thereafter for renovations. When it reopened in 1992 (along with 15 additional gates), it had been gutted and turned into a fully functional baggage claim hall with five 'island' carousels. Although it retains its high ceiling and open-air front, it is completely unrecognizable inside as the former terminal. Only the shape of the building is the same (the old gate holdrooms were converted into baggage make-up areas.)


A satellite view of OGG in the late 1990s, showing the huge new terminal. The old terminal still survives as a baggage claim hall; it's to the right of the central building, set at an angle to the rest of the complex.

MY MEMORIES OF OGG

Until my parents switched to Delta in 1988, we always arrived on the daily American flight from Honolulu for our annual vacation. The DC10 would touch down and come to a screeching halt at the end of the short runway, the pilot applying full reverse thrust and brakes to slow us down. We'd taxi slowly back towards the terminal; I'll always remember the sight of the palm trees out front swaying in the wind and all the people waiting along the chain-link fence with signs and leis to welcome the passengers.

To a small kid like me, the walk down the extra-tall airstairs was terrifying. I was instructed to hold my mom's hand the entire time. Once down, my sister and I would sprint through the garden area to the fence by baggage claim, where my grandparents would be waiting.


The OGG terminal as I remember it looking in the mid-1980s. The map looks south, toward Haleakala. My memory is a little fuzzy, so this map shouldn't be regarded as official, although I am fairly certain of the airline locations and gate numbers. Compare this with the real map from 1987.

Inside the terminal, I remember how warm it was, since the north side of the building was open-air. Only the gate holdrooms were air-conditioned; once you cleared security, you'd go through sliding doors to the holdroom. Everything else was basically outdoors, although it was covered. Baggage claim was pretty straightforward; the cart would pull in and you found your bags. Once the state added baggage belts in the mid-1980s, things were a little more like a regular airport.

I'm too young to recall the palm trees growing through the roof - they'd been removed and the hole covered by the time I could remember anything (the glass dome where the trees used to grow is still there in the renovated terminal, by the way.) There was a big sign in front of the terminal, on the roof overhang, that read "Kahului Airport." It was in the same 1960s typeface as the signs at IAH and EWR. Inside, all of the airline ticket counters were identified by name; one of the first things I learned how to read were the names of all the airlines. Seats were scattered through the lobby in little clusters.

According to my mom and stepdad, the American, Delta and Hawaiian flights always left from Gates 4 and 5. United, Aloha and Mid-Pac left from 1 and 2. I remember the holdroom was very small and did NOT have enough seats for a DC10 full of passengers. They'd open the door when it was time to board and the jet noise would be so loud in the holdroom you couldn't hear yourself think.

My aunt Barbara was dating an air traffic controller at one point in the late 1980s, and he arranged a real treat for us: we got to go up in the old control tower. This would have been in 1988. At that point the new tower was going up across the runway and the controllers were just weeks away from moving in. I remember looking across the apron at the different planes parked in front of the garden area, and seeing the sad hulk of the Aloha 737 that had lost its roof a few months before. It was parked at the far end of the terminal apron, with a black tarp stretched over the hole. The 'Aloha' titles on the tail were painted out. Very serious stuff, even to a seven-year old.

When we visited in the summer of 1990, the first phase of the current terminal was almost done. We left our Delta TriStar via airstairs and walked through a temporary wooden corridor to the old building, which was surrounded by construction. There were signs everywhere that said "Mahalo for your patience while we improve Kahului Airport." As we left that summer, they were installing the jetways at the new terminal; it opened about six weeks later.

How I wish I'd brought a camera on that trip up the tower!! The old OGG was one of a kind. When I go to Maui now, the air-conditioned modern terminal with its slick loading bridges and moving sidewalks just doesn't feel right. They don't make airport terminals like this one anymore.

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