The Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport reopened Tuesday morning after all operations were shut down Monday due to cracks on the runway.
Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation Director Edwin Sniffen said an 8-inch long crack was first discovered on the runway around 8 a.m. Monday.
Crews monitored the crack, but by the afternoon, it turned into a 3-foot hole in the middle of the runway. Due to the acceleration of degradation and concerns that other parts of the runway could also degrade, officials made the call to shut down airport operations.
All passenger and cargo flights were canceled at around 4:20 p.m. and the airport remained closed overnight while contractors repaired and resurfaced about 100 square feet of the runway.
The airport reopened by 5 a.m. with scheduled flights resuming an hour later.
Another segment of the runway will be repaired from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Jan. 17, but flight operations will not be impacted.
Officials say pavement degradation accelerated due to the recent rains.
A $120 million project to reconstruct the entire 11,000-foot runway is scheduled for later this year.
"The timing is unfortunate, but we're happy that we made the decision to fix it rather than pushing this to potential safety issues for our airlines," Sniffen said.
The department told HPR on Wednesday that they’re labeling the situation an “uncontrolled disruption” because the delay to flight service was weather-related, so they will not be offering reimbursements to those impacted financially by the airport closure.
