Millions of dollars will be spent upgrading Hilo International Airport throughout the next two years.
The airport is key to East Hawaii’s tourism, business travelers and vacation-loving residents. Known as General Lyman Field until 1989, Hilo International Airport includes a 9,800-foot-long main runway and a 5,600-foot-long “crosswind” runway often used by private pilots.
The state budget includes more than $19 million for the airport during the biennium. Federal funds in excess of $4 million also are on the way.
The money will provide safety renovations, remodels, additions and designs for future improvements.
A total of $10 million in federal funding is to be split by the airports in Hilo and Kona, including $4.43 million in Hilo for “drainage improvements needed to eliminate airfield ponding along the north and south shoulders” of the main runway “for aircraft safety purposes,” according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono.
State funds, with federal matching dollars, also will pay for noise attenuation for homes near the airport in Keaukaha.
Candelaria Hernandez lives in a home just one property away from the airport’s fence. She said noise from jets doesn’t last long and, once a plane is airborne, the noise is gone. So it typically doesn’t bother her.
Most of the time, she said, airport noise isn’t a big deal at all, except “maybe sometimes when a helicopter flies low.”
For such reasons, she said, noise attenuation might be beneficial. Also, during “Army training, there’s more noise, sometimes,” she said.
The state budget shows state and federal matching dollars throughout the biennium into 2019 will fund:
• $5.2 million for design and renovation of aircraft aprons, where planes get parked.
• $7.3 million for terminal improvements, such as the ticket lobby and restrooms.
• $5.2 million, including $2 million in federal matching funds, for noise attenuation for homes near the airport.
• $1.5 million to create designs for improvements to the airport’s arcade, including enclosure of the second floor and adding air conditioning.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
