Kaanapali Airport was a small regional airport located on the northwest end of

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, near the city of

Lahaina Lahaina (; ) or Lāhainā is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. On the northwest coast of the island of Maui, it encompasses Lahaina town and the Kaanapali, Hawaii, Kaanapali and Kapalua, Hawaii, Kapalua beac ...

and north of Kaanapali Beach in Honokōwai. The airport serviced West Maui between 1965 and its closure in 1986.

History

The exact date of the airport's construction is unknown, but was presumably built to transport workers to develop Kaanapali into a resort by

Amfac, Inc. Amfac, Inc., formerly known as American Factors and originally H. Hackfeld & Co., was a land development company in Hawaii. Founded in 1898 as a retail and sugar business, it was considered one of the so-called Big Five (Hawaii), Big Five compan ...

around 1961. It was not shown on the 1961

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

topographic map.

Commercial airline service

Royal Hawaiian Air Service was the only commuter airline authorized to use the airport, although

Federal Express FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company specializing in transportation, e-commerce, and business services. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tenness ...

also used it. According to one private pilot, the airport "had no markings to indicate that it was restricted or private use only, (but when) my wife and I landed a rented Piper Cherokee on this airstrip in August 1970 while on our honeymoon... we were not well received and were politely but firmly asked to leave." The airport was one of the most challenging locations to fly because of its short runway, which began just beyond Kaanapali Beach and cut a narrow swath through high green

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

fields. Because the airport was near the edge of a wind shadow, where the West Maui Mountains shielded the airport from the trade winds, the winds at the airport could range from calm to breezy depending on the wind direction. Around 1983, Royal Hawaiian acquired two

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

capable

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

turboprop aircraft, which flew nearly exclusively on the Honolulu to Kaanapali route. While the aircraft carried more passengers than the

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...

twin prop aircraft that the airline routinely operated, they were vulnerable to gusty winds and would not be used on the Kaanapali Airport route on particularly windy days.

Airport closure

In 1986, the airport was closed to make room for a planned hotel project. A new airport was built by

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...

inland of the Hawaii Route 30 on land of the Maui Land & Pineapple Company. It was named the Kapalua-West Maui Airport in recognition of the Kapalua Resort owned by the same parent company. The beach front of the old airfield site is now the new Honua Kai condominium complex, as well as the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas timeshare complex. Public access is via the small Alii Kahekili Nui Ahumanu Beach Park, known as Airport Beach. On March 1, 1987,

initiated service West Maui at the new airport with 50-seat,

capable de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprop aircraft.Kapalua Airport - Hawaii Airports
/ref> Royal Hawaiian Air Service ceased operations soon afterward, as its service from the Kaanapali Airport had been its main profit source.

References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Maui County, Hawaii Defunct airports in Hawaii Airports established in 1965 1965 establishments in Hawaii Airports disestablished in 1986 1986 disestablishments in Hawaii