Hilo International Airport , formerly General Lyman Field, is a regional airport located in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.Hilo CDP, Hawaii ." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on May 21, 2009. Owned and operated by the Hawaii Department of Transportation, the airport serves windward (eastern) Hawaiʻi island including the districts of Hilo, Hāmākua and Kaʻū, and Puna. It is one of two international airports serving Hawaiʻi island, the other being Kona International Airport on the leeward (western) side.
Although named an international airport, most flights operate between either Honolulu International Airport on Oahu or Kahului Airport on Maui. The airport encompasses of land.
It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.
History
Initial development In 1927 the Territory of Hawaii legislature passed Act 257, authorizing the expenditure of $25,000 for the construction of a landing strip in Hilo. The site was known as Keaukaha, on land belonging to the Hawaiian Homes Commission. Inmates from a nearby prison camp cleared the area of brush and rocks. The new facility was dedicated on February 11, 1928, by Major Clarence M. Young, then Secretary of Aeronautics of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Sixteen months after the dedication, scheduled inter-island service began on November 11, 1929, by Inter-Island Airways, the forerunner of Hawaiian Airlines. For $32, travelers could climb aboard an eight-passenger Sikorsky S-38 on thrice-weekly flights between Hilo and Honolulu. Five years later, in 1934, the company was awarded the right to carry air mail for the U.S. Postal Service.
Early expansion Improvements to Hilo's airfield were minimal during its first decade. Between 1927 and 1937, just over $34,000 was spent in developing the site. Over the next five years, however, the Works Progress Administration spent $261,613 to upgrade the airport. An additional $314,000 was provided by the Civil Aeronautics Administration in 1941.
During martial law in the territory following the attack on Pearl Harbor, all airports in the Hawaiian Islands came under the control of the U.S. military. The Army Engineers continued to expand the airport. In addition to military facilities to support an Air Corp fighter squadron at Hilo, the Army expanded and improved runways, taxiways and aprons. On April 19, 1943, the Territorial Legislature renamed Hilo Airport "General Lyman Field", for General Albert Kualiʻi Brickwood Lyman (1885–1942), the first U.S. General of Hawaiian ancestry. He was one of three sons of Rufus Anderson Lyman to attend the United States Military Academy.
The end of the war did not immediately bring about a return to civilian control of General Lyman Field. Although ownership of the airport was returned to the territory in September 1946, the Air Force leased the facilities and retained operational control of its tower for over three years after Japan's surrender. Meanwhile, Trans-Pacific Airlines, later renamed Aloha Airlines, commenced inter-island flights on July 26, 1946. On April 8, 1952, the territory assumed full control, paving the way for another round of expansion.
A groundbreaking ceremony for a new terminal building was held on July 17, 1952. At the same time, new high intensity lights were installed on Runway 8–26. Plans included a new freight terminal, aprons, parking areas and roads. The airport's new passenger terminal was completed and dedicated on December 5, 1953, and its freight terminal in June 1954.
Overseas growth During the late 1950s, Territorial leaders anticipated a boom in tourism, prompting plans for a second runway capable of accommodating large jet aircraft. The Hawaiʻi Aeronautics Commission recommended that General Lyman Field be expanded for overseas flights. In April 1958, the territory acquired on the eastern edge of the airport for a longer runway to enable non-stop flights to the west coast of the United States. The first phase was completed by April 1963 and the runway was dedicated on March 6, 1965. Interisland jet service from Honolulu and Maui was introduced by Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines during the mid-1960s. According to their respective system timetables at the time, in 1966 Aloha was serving Hilo with British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets as well as with Fairchild F-27 and Vickers Viscount turboprops while Hawaiian was serving the airport with Douglas DC-9-10 jets and also with Convair 640 turboprops. In April 1967 the state finished new taxiways and aprons, finally allowing the airport to receive overseas flights. On October 1, 1967, United Airlines Douglas DC-8 jets and Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 jets initiated nonstop flights from San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX).
Work began on an interim overseas terminal at General Lyman Field in November 1968. With a price tag of $775,000, this facility was designed for the burgeoning number of overseas passengers until a new terminal complex could be built. It was dedicated on July 4, 1969. The following year, Governor John Burns appointed the Hilo Airport Advisory Committee to make recommendations on long-term development of the airport. They suggested relocating terminals from the western edge of Runway 3–21 to the south of the newly lengthened Runway 8-26. The new terminal was designed for the largest passenger airliner in service: the Boeing 747. The airlines, however, did not wait until the new terminal was built; on February 6, 1971, the first jumbo jet landed: a 747 operated by Braniff International Airways.
Groundbreaking for a new terminal was held in July 1974. Construction of the terminal was done in two phases. The first was completed in 1975 and work immediately commenced on phase two. On April 30, 1976, officials dedicated the new, much more modern facility. In order to better serve the airport and its lengthened runway, the FAA opened a new, taller air traffic control tower on November 2, 1979.
Overseas retrenchment The introduction of overseas service to General Lyman Field initially met with success. Joining United Airlines and Pan American World Airways in providing nonstop and direct service to Hilo from the west coast and other locations in the U.S. were Braniff International Airways, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Western Airlines. In 1968, Northwest was operating Boeing 707-320C jet service nonstop to Hilo from Seattle (SEA) twice a week with this flight also providing direct, no change of plane service from New York JFK Airport (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL), Cleveland (CLE) and Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD). In 1969, United was operating daily nonstop flights from Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) with Douglas DC-8 jets including stretched Super DC-8-61 jetliners with direct, no change of plane Super DC-8 service being flown daily to Hilo from Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD) and Boston (BOS) via LAX while Pan American (Pan Am) was flying daily nonstop Boeing 707 service from Los Angeles (LAX) with 707 flights also being operated three days a week nonstop from San Francisco (SFO) and two days a week nonstop from Seattle (SEA) with this latter flight originating at Portland (PDX). Also in 1969, Braniff was operating Boeing 707-320 jet service with weekly nonstop flights from Dallas Love Field (DAL), Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) and St. Louis (STL) with the airline also operating direct one-stop 707 service once a week to Hilo from Atlanta (ATL), Miami (MIA) and New Orleans (MSY).https://www.timetableimages.com, April 14, 1969, Braniff timetable, Mainland-Hawaii flight schedules By 1971, Continental was flying Boeing 707-320C jetliners nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) with direct, no change of plane 707 service being operated from Denver (DEN), Kansas City (MCI), Portland (PDX) and Seattle (SEA) with flights from PDX and SEA making an intermediate stop in Honolulu.
The number of overseas passengers flying through Hilo peaked at 313,428 in 1971 and remained between 250,000 and 300,000 for most of the decade. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in 1975 Northwest, United and Western were continuing to serve Hilo. At this time, Northwest was flying nonstop Boeing 747 service once a week from Portland (PDX) with this flight originating in Seattle (SEA), United was operating daily Boeing 747 service nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) as well as nonstop Douglas DC-8 flights from San Francisco (SFO) five days a week while Western was flying Boeing 720B service nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) twice a week. A year later in 1976, Continental was once again serving Hilo with a daily direct McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flight from Denver (DEN) and Los Angeles (LAX) with this service making an intermediate stop in Honolulu while at this same time United was operating a Douglas DC-8 flight four days a week with a westbound routing of New York Newark Airport (EWR) – Cleveland (CLE) – San Francisco (SFO) – Hilo (ITO) in addition to operating daily nonstop Boeing 747 service from Los Angeles (LAX).February 1, 1976, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Hilo flight schedules
Beginning in 1979, however, overseas passenger traffic began to fall steadily, leading one carrier after another to suspend service to Hilo. The OAG lists only two air carriers operating nonstop service from the U.S. mainland to Hilo in 1979: United operating daily McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flights with one nonstop flight a day from both Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), and Western operating nonstop DC-10 service once a week from LAX.https://www.departedflights.com , November 15, 1979, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Hilo flight schedules In early 1985, United was operating just one departure a day from Hilo: a daily nonstop to Los Angeles (LAX) flown with a stretched Super DC-8. Also by the mid-1980s, overseas traffic had fallen by such an extent that United Airlines, the sole remaining overseas carrier, terminated scheduled service on December 1, 1986. The number of overseas passengers traveling to Hilo had declined in each of the previous eight years. During the first eleven months of 1986, United Airlines had served a mere 20,914 passengers in Hilo.Hilo International Airport Master Plan, Air Traffic Activity and Forecasts, Table 5-5, Historical Interisland/Overseas Passengers 1970–1998, 5–9 Hilo would be left without nonstop service to North America for nearly two decades.
At the same time, the state's other major airports added overseas service. United Airlines commenced service to Kahului Airport on January 5, 1983, followed by service to Kona International Airport on September 7 and finally to Līhuʻe Airport in August 1984. Hilo struggled to attract another overseas air carrier. Meantime, in the summer of 1983 there were three airlines operating nonstop service on the interisland route between Hilo and Honolulu including Aloha Airlines with Boeing 737-200 jets, Hawaiian Airlines with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50 jets and de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops, and Mid Pacific Air with NAMC YS-11 turboprops with the three air carriers operating a combined total of seventeen daily nonstop flights at this time from Hilo to Honolulu according to the OAG. Mid Pacific Air later introduced Fokker F28 Fellowship jets on its nonstop flights to Honolulu.
In May 1989, the state Legislature renamed General Lyman Field to "Hilo International Airport". Among the reasons given was to reorient the airport's image and to "conform to the practice of naming airports for their geographical locations". The main terminal kept the Lyman name.