Update/Runway reopens: HDOT shuts down airport in Kona to assess runway cracks

Update: 7:37 a.m., Jan. 16, 2024

The runway at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) on the Island of Hawaiʻi has reopened and flights have resumed this morning. Air travelers are asked to check with their airline for any potential schedule impacts. The runway was closed overnight while crews worked to repave a 10 foot by 20 foot section of runway that was cracked. Transportation officials say the state was scheduled to reconstruct the entire 11,000-foot runway this year, but recent rains resulted in cracks and accelerated pavement degradation on the runway.

Update: 2:50 a.m., Jan. 16, 2024

As of 2:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024: Runway repairs are nearly complete and operations at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole will resume for scheduled passenger flights at 6 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation. Air travelers are asked to check with their airline if they had a flight scheduled on Jan. 15 or Jan. 16, 2024.

Update: 10:02 p.m., Jan. 15, 2024

As of 10 p.m., work is ongoing, and the runway at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole is expected to reopen Tuesday morning. Crews are repaving a 10 foot by 20 foot section.

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The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation shut down operations at the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole at 4:20 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 15, to assess cracks on the runway and keep air travelers safe.

HDOT is measuring the usable runway length and will provide the information to airline operators to determine how to reopen the runway while restricting planes from the damaged areas. HDOT is also working with contractors to mill and resurface the affected area.

The HDOT has a project that will reconstruct the entire 11,000-foot runway this year, according to a news release. Cracks had developed and the runway pavement degradation had accelerated due to the recent rains, department officials said.

“I’ve been in contact with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and he is working with the FAA to help to solve this problem as quickly as possible,” said US Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Passengers are advised to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.