Major Maui Airport Runway Repairs/Closures Through June

Maui visitors should be prepared for delays and check with their airlines until June 30. The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) announced today that scheduled maintenance activities on Kahului Airport (OGG) runways have begun, which may impact operations. Let’s hope it’s nothing like the runway repairs at HNL that happened not long ago and continued way past its scheduled completion date.

The maintenance work at Maui started last Monday, April 1st (no joke), although the announcement didn’t occur until April 5. The repairs are planned to conclude on June 30, 2024. Operations are subject to weather conditions. HDOT has scheduled the runway closures to coincide with hours when passenger flights are “typically” not operating. Thus, most of the work is planned between 11 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. if all goes according to schedule. But there’s one big catch:

Not all Maui runway work will be performed at night.

Details were slim from the state on what that might mean to scheduled operations. The exact language provided in that regard is as follows: “It will experience temporary closures on selected days in May and June.” We hope to learn more when we can reach the HDOT.

New Maui runway pavement and old asphalt milling project.

Essential repairs needed involve milling old asphalt and applying new pavement on primary Runway 2-20. The state said it should ensure its operational integrity for seven to ten years, although we aren’t sure if that will be the case. This period is intended to allow HDOT to plan and execute a comprehensive long-term reconstruction project for the runway. And that project is problematic.

Hawaii DOT said it will coordinate with airlines to perform work effectively.

They are trying to reduce the impact on flight operations. It isn’t clear what provisions are being made should flights departing Maui in the evening become delayed. American, Delta, United, and Westjet all have red-eye flights operating out of Maui at night.

During the period through June 30, the state plans to implement alternate runway plans.

“Runway 5-23 will remain in service throughout most of the night work on primary Runway 2-20; however, Runway 5-23 will be closed periodically on select days in the months of May and June. During closures of Runway 5-23, Runway 2-20 will be shortened and restricted to B-111 and smaller aircraft. Both Runway 2-20 and Runway 5-23 will be operating normally outside of night-work hours. However, it will experience temporary closures on selected days in May and June. On these occasions, Runway 2-20 will accommodate limited operations, exclusively for B-111 aircraft and those of smaller size. Normal operations for both Runway 2-20 and Runway 5-23 will resume following each night’s maintenance activities.”

Travelers should be mindful of possible delays and contact their respective airlines for flight-specific information during the maintenance window.

Maui runway needs major repairs.

The airport needs overdue repairs to its primary Runway 2-20, which has had significant work done no less than five times since it was built over 80 years ago. The last major repairs took place about two decades ago.

Complete reconstruction remains on hold.

The state has been planning a major reconstruction project for at least five years. It looks like after this work, that will again get pushed down the road. When it does finally occur, you can expect a multi-year project that is estimated to cost no less than $250 million.

Years of severe rutting caused aircraft to become stuck.

It’s been about four years since the DOT performed taxiway repairs which were a source of severe problems. The contractor said the issue was “severe rutting, resulting in deflections and indentation of the asphalt pavement surface, causing aircraft to get stuck. It required a mill and overlay repair every couple of months and was in urgent need of permanent repair.”

It’s our understanding that the runway still requires nearly constant surfacing repairs to mitigate cracks and holes. We hope that will not be the case once this planned work occurs.

A future $3 billion Maui Airport plan to include reconstruction of Runway 2-20.

The now 7-year-old OGG master plan indicated: A “preferred runway alternative will reconstruct and extend Runway 2-20 from 7,000 ft. to 8,530 ft. A temporary runway parallel to Runway 2-20 will be constructed to allow continued airport service while Runway 2-20 is being reconstructed.” From today’s announcement, it appears that may occur some number of years from now.

Residents may not be in favor of the runway extension plans, however. Those would close a part of Haleakala Highway.

If you use Maui Airport, please give us feedback on these repairs and future plans. Mahalo!