CAA: GA News, "Hawaii's Waimea Airport needed for mail service, group says"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, October 28, 2002

Waimea Airport needed for mail service, group says 
By Hugh Clark 
The Honolulu (HI) Advertiser


WAIMEA, Hawai'i - The Waimea Community Association is gathering comments
from the community about the effect of a possible shutdown of Waimea
Airport on mail and freight service. 

Although the number of passengers flying into Waimea has become minimal
in recent years, the small airport is still a mail service hub for
burgeoning North and South Kohala, as well as Hamakua, according to John
Ray, a former councilman who is president of the community group. 

Gov. Ben Cayetano recently said declining revenues prompted an
evaluation of whether the state should close or privatize five state-run
airports: Kapalua on Maui, Port Allen on Kaua'i, 'Upolu and Waimea on
the Big Island and Dillingham on O'ahu. 

The 'Upolu Airport in North Kohala discontinued passenger service when
the Kohala Sugar plantation closed down in the 1970s. Planes still land
there and pay fees on an honor system. It has not been staffed in recent
years. 

Ray said he believes there is private interest in taking over the Waimea
Airport, but there are unanswered questions about how the facility's
runways and lighting would be maintained. 

The airport is at the 2,700-foot elevation on the Waimea plateau between
the Kohala Mountains and Mauna Kea. It is fenced off from Parker Ranch
pastures and accepts two commuter flights a day.


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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