In 2013, a $7 billion “airport modernization” project began at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. But in a sign of incompetence, mismanagement and even fraud, our airport was recently ranked as the second-worst large airport in the country (“Honolulu ranks next to last in large airport survey,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 5).
Hawaii’s airports currently are managed by the Department of Transportation, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Department of Budget and Finance and more. The airports do not use taxpayer funds, and yet they are subject to the slow-moving bureaucracy of the state.
“A state airports governance study in 2016 found that an independent airport authority would be the best entity to oversee Hawaii’s 15 airports,” Hawaii Business Magazine reported in 2018.
Forty-seven states have an independent airport authority overseeing their airports. Hawaii, whose major industry is tourism, doesn’t have one. Our airport should be the proud centerpiece of our state. Instead, we have an embarrassing eyesore.
Bert Oshiro
Hawaii Kai
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