HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii aims to finish building a new immigration facility at Kailua-Kona’s airport one month before Hawaiian Airlines begins direct flights there from Tokyo. ADVERTISING HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii aims to finish building a
HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii aims to finish building a new immigration facility at Kailua-Kona’s airport one month before Hawaiian Airlines begins direct flights there from Tokyo.
Department of Transportation Deputy Director Ross Higashi said Thursday the state is “feverishly moving” to get the facility ready by November. Hawaiian plans to start flying to Kona from Tokyo on Dec. 20.
The immigration facility will be temporary, Higashi told industry leaders at a meeting of the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s Hawaii chapter in Waikiki. The department plans to later build a permanent Kona international arrivals building to comply with federal standards.
Higashi estimated a permanent facility would cost $50 million.
The department plans to seek money from the state’s general fund to cover the expense, he said.
That’s because the new flight from Tokyo will generate general excise tax, transient accommodations tax and corporate income tax revenue that will feed the general fund, he said.
Hawaiian’s new route will bring a regularly scheduled direct flight from Japan to the Big Island for the first time since 2010.
That’s the year Japan Airlines stopped flying its Tokyo-Kona route.
