b'10 KOA TERMINALSKona Intl Invests in Future with NewFederal Inspection Services Facilityand Terminal Upgrades BY VICTORIA SOUKUPThe state of Hawaii has a secondThe airport is also in the final stages ofprevious holdrooms were open air. Once permanent international entryupgrading its baggage system. Screeningupon a time, when the airport first opened, point with the $58.7 millionmachines for checked baggage will moveit was cool to have an open and breezy Federal Inspection Station completed atfrom the public side of the terminal toairport. But now, we all want the comforts Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airportan inline system behind the check-inof air conditioning, and that is the type of (KOA) last fall. The new facility replacescounters. improvement were striving for.a temporary facility that federal officialsTogether, the slate of improvements said needed to be replaced if the airportis designed to increase the airportsEasy Decisionwanted to accommodate a steady streamoperational efficiency, make it moreIt was six years ago when KOA officials of scheduled international traffic. Now,visually appealing and provide additionaldecided they needed to build a permanent international passengers flying into Hawaiiopen space for future concessions. facility for U.S. Customs and Border can land at either KOA or Daniel K. InouyeProtection (CBP) to attract and serve International Airport in Honolulu. Cy Duvauchelle,international traffic. Previously, the airport KOAs assistanthad a temporary structure for occasional The new Federal Inspection Servicesmanager, laughs as he (FIS) building is part of a massiveinternational traffic, but that facility was says that the airportshuttered in 2010. In 2016, federal officials renovation at the largely outdoor airporthad become rather located on the Big Island. Projectgave KOA a choice: construct a new archaic. Our facilitiesbuilding to house the agency or forego designers modernized the 50-year-oldwere really, really, terminal by merging its two previouslythe ability to have international flights. The old, he remarks.CY DUVAUCHELLE state felt it was important to have a second separate structures into one unified facility.These new projects The new connecting point is a high-tech,airport to accept international traffic in case bring such an improvement and enhanceof weather disruptions or emergencies. six-lane centralized security checkpoint.passenger comfort. For example, all the September 2022AirportImprovement.com'