Kapalua Airport , also known as Kapalua–West Maui Airport, is a regional

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

in the district of Mahinahina on the west side 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 ...

island in the state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. It is located north 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 ...

, in

Maui County Maui County (), officially the County of Maui, is a county in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It consists of the islands of Maui, Lānai, Molokai (except for a portion of Molokai that comprises Kalawao County), Kahoolawe, and Molokini. The latter ...

. Most flights to Kapalua Airport originate from commuter airports on the other Hawaiian islands by commercial commuter services, unscheduled air taxis, and general aviation. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

records, the airport had 52,328 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year A calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. The Gregorian calendar year, which is in use as civil calendar in ...

2008, 42,416 enplanements in 2009, and 40,060 in 2010. It is included in the

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

facility.

History

Named for the

Kapalua Resort Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company. Description Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summit ...

a few miles to the north, the airport replaced the

Kaanapali Airport Kaanapali Airport was a small regional airport located on the northwest end of Maui, near the city of Lahaina and north of Kaanapali Beach in Honokōwai. The airport serviced West Maui between 1965 and its closure in 1986. History The exact d ...

, which had an even shorter runway, in 1987 to allow valuable coastal land to be developed. The airport code name JHM stands for John Henry Magoon, who was president of

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 ...

when that airline developed the airport. Hawaiian operated

de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in producti ...

turboprop aircraft on flights to

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. The

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, four engine, 50-passenger Dash 7 was the largest aircraft ever to operate scheduled passenger flights from the airport. Hawaiian discontinued service to Kapalua when the Dash 7 was retired from its fleet in 1994. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the United States, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, ...

( OAG), in late 1989 Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Island Air were operating a combined total of up to 30 nonstop flights a day to Honolulu from Kapalua Airport, Hawaiian with Dash 7 aircraft and Aloha Island Air with

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 ...

turboprops with the latter air carrier operating its flights via a

code sharing A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

agreement with

Aloha Airlines Aloha Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated passenger flights from 1946 until 2008. It was headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from its hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Air ...

. In the spring of 1995, Aloha Island Air was the only airline operating nonstop service from Kapalua to Honolulu with 15 daily flights operated with DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft via its code sharing agreement with Aloha Airlines. By the spring of 1999, Aloha Island Air continued to be only airline operating nonstop service from the airport to Honolulu with eight daily flights operated with

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was bought by Boeing in 1986, then by Bombardier in 1992, then by Longvi ...

Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was bought by Boeing in 1986, then by Bombardier in 1992, then by Longv ...

turboprops via its code share with Aloha. Aloha Island Air subsequently changed its name to Island Air.

Mahalo Air Mahalo Air was an airline that provided inter-island service within the state of Hawaii between 1993 and 1997. The airline started service on October 4, 1993, using Fokker F27 turboprop aircraft operated by Empire Airlines while awaiting its own ...

, which operated between 1993 and 1997, also served Kapalua with flights to Honolulu using

ATR 42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aér ...

twin turboprop aircraft. Island Air discontinued service to Kapalua on May 31, 2013, when it replaced its fleet of

s with

ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

propjets. On November 2, 2016, Hawaiian Airlines announced they would resume service at Kapalua Airport beginning January 18, 2017 with flights to Honolulu and

Kahului Kahului () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It hosts the county's main airport ( Kahului Airport), a deep-draft harbor, light industrial areas, and commercial shoppi ...

. Flights were to be operated by Hawaiian Air's

Ohana by Hawaiian Ohana by Hawaiian was a regional subsidiary carrier of Hawaiian Airlines. The service was operated using four ATR 42 turboprop airplanes owned by Hawaiian and operated under contract by Empire Airlines. The new service was slated to begin in summ ...

subsidiary utilizing 48-seat

ATR 42-500 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now part of Airbu ...

twin turboprop aircraft. On November 15, 2016, Hawaiian Airlines announced that it was temporarily suspending sales of its Honolulu to West Maui service pending securing a TSA presence at Kapalua Airport. On January 11, 2017, Hawaiian Airlines announced they expect to resume service at Kapalua West Maui Airport by late March. On January 27, 2017, Hawaiian Airlines resumed selling tickets to and from Kapalua West Maui Airport, with service beginning March 1, 2017. On March 25, 2020, Hawaiian Airlines suspended service to and from Kapalua West Maui Airport as part of its systemwide reduction in service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facilities and aircraft

Kapalua Airport is governed by a special agreement made by the state with Maui County. A former, privately owned airport, major changes or improvements to Kapalua Airport cannot be made without the consent of the Maui County Council. The county insists on limiting development to preserve the Kapalua community from commercialization. Kapalua Airport is restricted to a single runway, a couple of terminal facilities and support facilities. There are no air cargo facilities, which causes all arriving air cargo (

FedEx Feeder FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leading subsidiary of FedEx C ...

) to unload directly on the ramp, and load directly into delivery trucks which line up outside the ramp gate. Operations are restricted to daytime hours only. Passengers departing on Mokulele Airlines are not screened by the

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

. There is a snack bar offering a variety of light snacks, meals, and beverages. The airport covers an area of 50

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s (20 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 256 feet (78 m) above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has one

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

designated 2/20 with an

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

surface measuring 3,000 by 100 feet (914 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2004, the airport had 9,990 aircraft operations, an average of 27 per day: 51% scheduled commercial and 49%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

Statistics

Airlines and destinations

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

s offer scheduled passenger service: Big Island Air and Royal Pacific Air provide unscheduled, on-demand charter flights and tours.

Authority

Kapalua Airport is part of a centralized state structure governing all of the airports and seaports of Hawaii. The official authority of Kapalua Airport is the

Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii () is the head of government of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes bei ...

who appoints the Director of the

Hawaii Department of Transportation The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) is a state government organization which oversees transportation in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The agency is divided into three divisions dealing with aviation, maritime, and roads. HDOT Divisions A ...

who has jurisdiction over the Hawaii Airports Administrator. The Hawaii Airports Administrator oversees six governing bodies: Airports Operations Office, Airports Planning Office, Engineering Branch, Information Technology Office, Staff Services Office, Visitor Information Program Office. Collectively, the six bodies have authority over the four airport districts in Hawaii: Hawaii Island District, Kauai District, Maui District and the principal Oahu District. Kapalua Airport is a subordinate of the Maui District officials.

References

External links

Hawaii DOT page for Kapalua Airport
* {{authority control Buildings and structures in Maui County, Hawaii Airports in Hawaii Transportation in Maui County, Hawaii Airports established in 1987 1987 establishments in Hawaii