Finally had some time to get these pics up for viewing. I thought I'd give you guys a taste of what it's like flying inter-island for those of you who haven't experienced it yet. Flew HNL-OGG-KOA and KOA-HNL over Memorial Day weekend on Hawaiian, though I wasn't fortunate enough to get on one of the new-edition 717-200s (N483HA, N488HA, N489HA, N490HA) that apparently have bamboo flooring. Anyway, I shrunk these pics down a bit more since there are so many of them. Hope you enjoy!
A couple quick, sloppy shots of the interior of the Inter-Island Terminal (gates 49-61), serving Hawaiian (717s and select 763s) and Mokulele (E-170s). The shots came out like crap, but the g/f was rushing me
Okay, I've got my Croissan'wich. Now, which gate for Hawaiian 126 to Kahului?
Moving sidewalk to the Overseas Terminal while walking to the old Aloha gates.
Ground-level garden located at the Inter-Island Terminal. The Overseas Terminal has a bigger, better one...complete with giant koi pond.
Open-air corridor leading to the old Aloha gates (49-53). Where is everyone?
Enclosed boarding lounge for gate 54 (55-61 stretch off to the right of the photo). The conjoined Hawaiian and Aloha Air Cargo hangars sit in the background.
The one thing I HAD to check out were the giant vintage Hawaiian photos that adorn the boarding lounges now. Aloha did this before they shutdown, and I was very glad to see Hawaiian continue the idea with photos of their own. Would've been better if they had kept the Aloha photos up though.
However, to my surprise, they did keep this old Aloha route map up across from gate 51 in between the restrooms.
Just about ready to board our flight 126 to OGG (continuing to KOA as HA180) at gate 53...
...But first, I had to get a tail close-up with the HA hangar in the background. An 80th Anniversary banner hangs along the right side of it. Oh, and that cement structure behind it is the state penitentiary.
We apparently taxied through NRT on the way to 26R for an intersection departure.
As we turned southbound, we got a great view of HNL, downtown, Waikiki, and Diamond Head. Beautiful weather, n'est-ce pas?
Overview of Oahu after making another turn to the southeast towards Maui.
The view from seat 7A at 13,000 feet, with the eastern coast of Molokai in the distance. These windows are dirtier than they look. The water spots always make photography difficult through them.
Abeam the island of Molokai (population approx. 7,000), home of the world's tallest seacliffs (along the northern coast), and the least "touristy" of the major Hawaiian Islands. The main airport, MKK, has some of the friendliest controllers I've had the pleasure of talking to.
As we continued southbound enroute to OGG, we passed over the island of Lanai (Molokai is in the background). Lanai has continued to carve out a sizeable tourist industry for its 3,000 residents with help of the Four Seasons at Manele Bay and Four Seasons Lodge at Ko'ele. While the island was once home to the world's largest pineapple plantation in the early- and mid-1900s, pineapple production no longer takes place on Lanai.
Only 20 minutes after takeoff from HNL and we're already passing over the southern coast of Maui as we line up for the visual approach to runway 2 at OGG. The squiggly road hugging the coast is the Honoapiilani Highway that leads to the western coast of Maui and some world-class resorts in Lahaina, Kaanapali, and Kapalua.
Descending through the valley on approach to runway 2 at OGG. The middle of this valley is covered in sugar cane fields, and is occasionally clouded in hazy smoke as fires are used as a harvesting technique.
Aerial view of Kahului, the largest town on Maui. Despite a population of only 20,000, the town's airport, OGG, sees widebody traffic from Air Canada, American, Delta, Hawaiian, and United.
After a 25-minute turn at gate 18 in OGG, we rocket off of runway 2 as HA180 to KOA...
And another 20 minutes later, we were given this awesome view of the lava rock-covered island of Hawaii while on approach to runway 17 at KOA.
Somewhere along the coast in the distance is the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort. This 62-acre resort is THE place to stay if you visit the Big Island.
On short final for runway 17 at KOA, you pass over a giant lava flow from 1801. The majority of the Kona International Airport at Keahole was built on this lava rock. Instead of grass in between taxiways, you have flattened mounds of dark brown rubble.
Yup, that's right. Airstairs!
Just a quick shot looking aft before making our way down onto the ramp.
Thanks for the great ride, 'I'iwi!
Just a wider view of N475HA and a sistership taxying for departure while walking to the open-air terminal.
The midday ramp scene at KOA. The Mokulele E-170 is departing for HNL, the Alaska 738 is being prepped for the return to SEA, and the United 763 and 752 are loading for SFO and LAX, respectively. As for the go! CRJ...who cares.
Gate 8 in the southern terminal complex. Each of those hut roofs are open-air boarding lounges. How 'bout that old-school airstair truck on the left?
How can you not admire the unique architecture of this tropical airport?
Just another quick shot before heading to baggage claim.
Another view of Baggage Claim Area B before heading for the Hilton.
Before boarding Hawaiian 397 back to HNL, I picked up some night shots of KOA during the evening rush of mainland departures.
On the left is the makeshift eatery that was set up while the actual restaurant undergoes renovations. In the background is the entrance into the central courtyard area and boarding lounges for Terminal B from the TSA checkpoint.
And here is the makeshift "bar" being used until renovations are completed on the actual bar.
Quick shot of the newsstand.
Kind of hard to tell that this is even an airport, huh?
Ramp shot of N757AT loading as DL1768 to LAX.
And after a great holiday weekend of relaxation, it was back to Honolulu.
Great pictures, those are some beauties of that HA 717. Hawaii is a beautiful place and you are very lucky to have an airport close by that is that beautiful.
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Great trip report and pictures. I flown through all the airports in your pictures dozens of times. Did you stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort? Thats a great resort. If you did, hopefully you got to swim with the dolphins there.
Thanks for the comments, guys. Doing trip reports is actually a lot of fun. I just wish I was into it back when I was in college and flying several times a year racking up the Silver Medallion status at Delta. I haven't been flying nearly as much since then. Hopefully, when the industry turns around and I'm actually able to land a job flying for a regional, I'll be able to get trip reports up all the time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon CRJ700
How are Mokuele doing, any chance of them folding, or are their loads good and here to stay?
Well....I know when they first started operations, their loads were HORRENDOUS. I'm talking single-digit pax numbers on many flights. The baggage loads would be so light for some of these flights that they wouldn't even use a baggage cart to bring them out to the plane. They would just throw the bags on the hood of the tug and drive them out to the gate that way. BUT, from what I've heard, Mokulele is doing much better now, and their loads are looking much healthier (not too sure on the numbers though). This may have been affected by the fact that they started a bit of a fare war out here again when they announced service to ITO for $35 one-way. Fares have been dipping down to $27 one-way now, so the loads are probably fairly good. But obviously, the yields are practically non-existent. I'm just glad that go! is hemorrhaging Mesa's cash again
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Tupolev
Great trip report and pictures. I flown through all the airports in your pictures dozens of times. Did you stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort? Thats a great resort. If you did, hopefully you got to swim with the dolphins there.
As a matter of fact, we did stay at the Hilton Waikoloa. It has to be one of my absolute favorite hotels ever! And I love how it's so spread out that you have to take the tram or boat to get from one end to the other. My girlfriend and I spent three and a half days there, and it still wasn't long enough to feel like we actually got to soak up everything fully. The dolphins are awesome, and I love how close you can get to them without even signing up for that dolphin program. The pool next to the Lagoon Tower is AWESOME! It's just an overall GREAT place to spend a vacation.
Really good job of depicting the scene and atmosphere of interisland flying with your photos. I like the scenes you've selected, very representative. I've heard that the Kona airport is slated to be redone into a closed air terminal. I hope not, there is a wonderful charm to the old style open air Hawaiian style terminals. As for Mokulele, what's better, to have 10 passengers at $70 or 35 passengers at $20? Neither one makes for a successful long term business. When will people wanting to enter the interisland market figure this out? The same scenario repeats itself continuously.
I love these types of trip reports, makes you feel as though you just completed the journey yourself. Lots of good interior shots! I wish more folk would do this!
I love these types of trip reports, makes you feel as though you just completed the journey yourself. Lots of good interior shots! I wish more folk would do this!
Honolulu has such an outdoorsy feel and surprising to see all those JALs too! Also very nice in flight pictures, makes me want to visit Hawaii someday myself.
Really good job of depicting the scene and atmosphere of interisland flying with your photos. I like the scenes you've selected, very representative. I've heard that the Kona airport is slated to be redone into a closed air terminal. I hope not, there is a wonderful charm to the old style open air Hawaiian style terminals. As for Mokulele, what's better, to have 10 passengers at $70 or 35 passengers at $20? Neither one makes for a successful long term business. When will people wanting to enter the interisland market figure this out? The same scenario repeats itself continuously.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm not too sure exactly what is scheduled for KOA in terms of renovations, but I recently noticed an artistic rendering on Kona International Airport at Keahole showing a future KOA after some MAJOR changes. It looks more like a shopping mall than anything else...with a 727 taking off in the background. As for the fare wars going on out here, the main problem is that there really is not any room for three major inter-island players. I think it's safe to say that Hawaiian won't be going anywhere, so you basically have go! and Mokulele duking it out to see who craps out first. It's almost like Mokulele took a page from Mesa's book and is hoping to push go! out of the market, just like go! did to Aloha. With big backing from Republic on Mokulele's side (in addition to more efficient aircraft for the market), and Mesa in some deep doodoo financially, I would put my money on Mokulele surviving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dylan
I love these types of trip reports, makes you feel as though you just completed the journey yourself. Lots of good interior shots! I wish more folk would do this!
Thanks Andy!
I thought you would enjoy a lot of these pics. Do you ever check out the trip reports over on A.Net? I've been meaning to do that for a long time, but I just haven't had the chance to get around to it yet.
Honolulu-Kona 5/21 - 5/24
Honolulu Airport has such an unique style! that makes me love it! 
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