A handful of dignitaries gathered Tuesday at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole for a small ceremony to dedicate a permanent Federal Inspection Services facility.
As reported in Monday’s edition, contractor Nan Inc. completed the project under budget and ahead of schedule with the final price tag coming in at $58.7 million, $700,000 under the contract award amount. The project was also delivered ahead of a December deadline the state had to open the permanent facility to ensure Hawaii continued to have a second international gateway.
“This permanent inspection facility ensures the resilience of our air routes,” said state Department of Transportation Director Jade Butay. “Having two international entry points into the state is important in case an emergency impacts our ability to receive flights at an airport.”
The Federal Inspection Services facility needed to be completed by the end of 2021 as agreed on by the state and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in December 2016. That agreement permitted the airport to continue using — for up to five years — the white tent currently housing the Federal Inspection Station, allowing for the resumption of international direct flights to the airport.
Until the agreement in December 2016, customs and immigration officials hadn’t been stationed at the airport’s international tent since Japan Airlines stopped flying to Kona in 2010. A temporary practice of having charter flights reimburse Customs for flying agents from Honolulu to Kona to staff the customs gateway there was ended in 2012.
No international flights have come to Kona since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. Any international travel to Hawaii has come through Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.