HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

198

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF RETURNING THE KAPALUA-WEST MAUI AIRPORT TO PRIVATE OPERATION.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Kapalua-West Maui Airport was built in 1987 by Hawaiian Airlines on land leased from Maui Land and Pineapple Company; and

WHEREAS, the County of Maui imposed numerous restrictions in the zoning of the fifty-acre airport parcel, including restricting the length of the runway to three thousand feet, banning helicopters and jet aircraft, limiting flights to day-time only, and limiting the total number of flights daily to seventy; and

WHEREAS, in 1992 the State acquired the Kapalua-West Maui Airport, using only state funds to acquire the facility, thereby allowing the continuation of the restrictions on the operation of the facility; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Aviation Administration indicated, at the time of acquisition, that if the State in the future sought federal grants for the Kapalua-West Maui Airport, the operation of the airport, would then have to comply with federal rules to make the airport available to all public uses "on fair and reasonable terms and without discrimination, to all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical uses"; and

WHEREAS, in 2002, when the State sought to close or privatize the Kapalua-West Maui Airport along with four other commuter airports because of the decrease in airport revenues, the Federal Aviation Administration declared that the State cannot "close or dispose of an airport without the concurrence of the Federal Aviation Administration Association administrator of airports", because of the terms the State agreed to when accepting federal funds; and

WHEREAS, the Kapalua-West Maui Airport, when considered alone, may be more efficiently operated if it was privatized; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the feasibility of privatizing the Kapalua-West Maui Airport, and determine whether the concurrence of the Federal Aviation Administration is possible because federal funds were obtained for the operation of the airport; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

DOT; Kapalua-West Maui Airport