Honolulu airport to get $10 million for upgrades

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu will receive $10 million in federal funding for upgrades to its runways, lighting and draining.

The funding was drawn from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Package signed into law by President Joe Biden in November. The Biden administration announced today that it is giving nearly $1 billion to 85 airports to expand and upgrade terminals and other facilities, using money approved in last year’s huge infrastructure bill.

The grant funding will come from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Terminal Program, one of three aviation programs created by the BIP law, which provides $1 billion annually for five years for grants in the program.

“As Hawai‘i emerges from the pandemic and our tourism industry recovers, the federal funding for our airports will improve customer experiences, move goods through the economy more efficiently to lower prices, and enhance U.S. competitiveness,” said Hawaii U.S. Rep. Ed Case in a statement.

Case said that the $10 million will go toward reconstructing the terminal roadway at the airport, which includes approximately 142,000 square feet of pavement, as well as drainage and lighting on the Ewa and Diamond Head Concourses.

“This new federal funding will support necessary upgrades at HNL, which will improve the airport’s runways, main terminal, and passenger experience,” said state U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement.

There already had been recent upgrades to the Honolulu airport, including the Dec. 1 opening of the Honolulu Consolidated Rental Car Facility and the Aug. 27 opening of the Mauka Concourse before it.

The competitive grant funding means potential grantees must compete with other applicants as opposed to funds being distributed automatically based on specific criteria.

The largest of the FAA grants include $60 million to improve the terminal and replace the bag-handling system at Denver International Airport, $50 million apiece for Boston’s Logan Airport and Orlando International Airport in Florida, $49.6 million for Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., to build a new concourse and $20 million for Pittsburgh International Airport to build a new terminal next to the old one.

The main airports in Detroit and Philadelphia will get more than $20 million each to renovate their restrooms.

The FAA said 532 airports submitted applications for 658 projects that, if all had been granted, would have totaled more than $14 billion.

In the past, federal funds have gone largely into runways, taxiways and towers while airports paid for terminal upgrades with money they get from passenger facility charges, or PFCs — up to $4.50 per flight that is tacked onto every airline ticket.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said it is fine to spend taxpayer money on projects that were generally funded by passenger fees in the past because “there is a need out there; taxpayers expect it and want it.”

Congress could consider raising ticket taxes for airport projects next year. Airports want to raise the fees, but airlines don’t.

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Associated Press contributed to this story