
| Kona International Airport at Keahole | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: KOA ICAO: PHKO | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Hawaii Department of Transportation | ||
| Location | Kailua-Kona, Hawaii | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 47 ft / 14.3 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 17/35 | 11,000 | 3,353 | Asphalt |
Kona International Airport at Keahole (IATA: KOA, ICAO: PHKO) is an airport on the Island of Hawaii, in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The airport serves both the town of Kailua-Kona and the major resorts of the North Kona and South Kohala districts (leeward or kona Hawaii).
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The state government of Hawaii facility operates an 11,000-foot (3350-m) runway and a terminal complex of single story buildings along the eastern edge of the airfield for arriving and departing passengers, air cargo and mail, airport support, and general aviation operations.
Kona International, or "Kailua-Kona" as it is more often called by locals and interisland passengers, is the only remaining major airport in the Hawaiian Islands where a mobile ramp is used to plane and deplane passengers. Kona International sees daily 757, 767, 777, and 747 aircraft. The airport terminal is a rambling, open-air set of structures. Long after other airports in Hawaii converted their terminals to multi-story buildings with automated jetway systems, Hawaiian Airlines could still utilize their DC-9 fleet's tailcone exits at Kailua-Kona.
One unique feature to Kona's airport is United Flight 3, which operates ORD-OGG-KOA-ORD on a daily basis aboard a Boeing 777. While the Kona stop certainly adds to the profitablity of this long-haul flight, it is also absolutely essential because Kahului Airport's runway is too short to allow a fully-loaded 777 to depart for a destination as far away as Chicago.
Much of the airport runway is built on a relatively recent lava flow: the 1801 Huehue flow from Huallai. This flow extended the shoreline out an estimated 1 mile, adding some four 4 kmē of land to the Island (USGS, 1997).
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