"Group criticizes state on Maui airport project"

Tuesday, December 21, 2004 

Group criticizes state on Maui airport project
DOT officials admit work began without the proper permits
By Rob Perez
The Honolulu (HI) Star-Bulletin


A group of small air carriers that has criticized the state Department of
Transportation accused the agency yesterday of breaking the law by hastily
approving a Maui airport project that favors one carrier over others and
raises a question of a conflict of interest.

Department officials denied any conflict exists and said it halted
construction on the project once it realized needed permits were not
obtained.

The project would establish a security station for federal personnel to
screen Island Air passengers at Kahului's commuter terminal. Island Air had
requested the screening system.

Rob McKinney, a spokesman for the carrier group and vice president of
Pacific Wings, an Island Air competitor, said the state rushed the project
to construction without obtaining a building permit and without getting the
required approval for building in a federal wetlands area.

Airports operations officer Roy Sakata, a former Aloha Airlines pilot,
pushed through the project for the state, McKinney said. Island Air was an
affiliated company of Aloha Airlines until the parent company, Aloha
Airgroup Inc., sold the commuter carrier in May.

At a news conference yesterday outside the Transportation Department's
headquarters, McKinney spoke on behalf of Part 135 Regulated Operators
Partnership, a recently formed group of carriers that has run television
advertisements criticizing the department's airport operations. The
organization also has raised questions about the agency through a Web site,
airportscandal.com.

Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the state stopped construction on
the Maui project once it realized the project would cost more than $125,000
and therefore needed a special federal permit.

He also acknowledged that in its haste to get the project started, the state
failed to get a building permit before starting construction.

Work will not resume until both permits are obtained, Ishikawa said.

Several carriers initially raised objections to the project because they
were concerned the federal screening would displace them from the terminal
-- a carrier needs special certification to operate in a security-screened
terminal -- or would result in delays for their passengers.

Small carriers at Kahului are not required to have their passengers
screened.

Once the objections were raised, Ishikawa said that the department modified
the Maui project so that only Island Air passengers would be screened.

But later yesterday, McKinney said his company got word from the department
that the agency eventually plans to move Island Air to Kahului's main
terminal, a move the carrier group had sought.

On the Net:

Hawaii Department of Transportation

www.state.hi.us/dot/


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