The Hawaii Department of Transportation invites the public to attend the first of four public input sessions to guide future developments at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (KOA).
The meeting from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday is taking place in-person only at the West Hawaii Civic Center at 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway.
Presentation boards used during the meeting will be posted on koamasterplanupdate.com, HDOT spokesman Russell Pang said.
The KOA Master Plan Update is a long-range planning document that will help guide future improvements to the airport. Thursday’s meeting will provide the community with information about the project’s goals and objectives, as well as presenting “draft aviation activity forecast results” and giving attendees the opportunity to offer feedback.
The Master Plan Update was developed in January and currently is slated for completion in summer of 2026.
The plan’s website outlines objectives and goals of the plan that include enhancing airfield safety and customer experience; expanding and modernizing the terminals to meet air travel demand while maintaining the airport’s essence and sense of place; maximizing the land use potential through nonaeronautical developments; enhancing airport structure to improve readiness in weather disruptions; ensuring a reliable supply of power and jet fuel; and engaging residents in neighboring communities to ensure the plan supplements the Kona Community Development Plan.
Details for the three subsequent meetings after Thursday’s will be announced at a later time, Pang said. He said the public also can submit comments and questions via the KOA Master Plan Update website at koamasterplanupdate.com.
“These community informational meetings allow residents to provide input to help shape KOA’s future in ways that reflect local needs and values. Resident participation is important because it ensures that the planning process is informed by community perspectives,” Pang said. “These meetings also promote transparency by helping the public understand how decisions are made and how the airport plans to grow responsibly.”
The airport was opened in July 1970 to replace the old Kailua-Kona airport, which was constructed on lava fields with a 6,500-foot runway and terminal buildings with a Polynesian-inspired architectural design. Multiple expansions in the 1980s and 1990s included having the runway extended to 11,000 feet in 1994, which made it the longest runway on the neighbor islands.
Its ability to accommodate wide-body aircraft saw the first international flight arriving from Japan in 1996, and in 2021 the permanent Federal Inspection Service facility was opened to replace the earlier customs and immigration facilities of the 1990s, maintaining KOA as one of two international entry points to Hawaii.
The airport was renamed in 2017 as the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole to honor the as the first Asian-American and first person of Japanese ancestry to travel to space.
Any attendees for Thursday’s meeting who may require assistance or accommodation for a disability should contact contact Airports Planner Melanie Barroga by calling (808) 838-8817 or emailing melanie.j.barroga@hawaii.gov.
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.