New $ 377 million car rental facility at Honolulu Airport opens Wednesday

A $ 377 million consolidated rental car rental facility in Honolulu officially opens on Wednesday to mark the completion of all major Honolulu projects as part of a 2-year airport modernization plan, $ 6 billion statewide.

Governor David Ige and officials from the state Department of Transportation will inaugurate CONRAC at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Tuesday morning.

DOT Airports Division Deputy Director Ross Higashi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Saturday that the Honolulu CONRAC is the largest single project effort that DOT has completed this calendar year.

“It’s just bigger and better,” Higashi said of the project, which will allow rental car brands to locate their operations in the same covered and centrally located airport structure, which is directly across from the terminals. aerial.

It said it was opening up with nine rental car brands: Enterprise, Alamo, National, Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty and Sixt, which opened a branch in Honolulu in 2020.

Higashi said the centralized five-story project makes it easier for rental car companies to control and maintain their inventory. In addition to offering places to store and rent cars, he said the facility has space to fuel, wash and repair cars.

Higashi said the new facility will improve the arrival experience for visitors, as well as reduce traffic at the airport by eliminating the need for rental car companies to perform constant loop pickup shuttles. Higashi said many customers will be able to walk to CONRAC in Honolulu. A consolidated bus system will transport remaining customers to and from the facility, significantly reducing the number of shuttles on the airport and terminal routes, he said.

“It’s definitely faster and avoids confusion,” he said. “It also reduces the carbon footprint. “

Higashi said planning for CONRAC in Honolulu began in 2012 when the site was selected, with construction starting in 2016. Project engineers said construction was to be completed in phases as CONRAC sits on the site. site of the old car rental facilities. These car rental companies have had to temporarily relocate their car rental operations to overseas parking, eliminating around 1,000 public parking spaces, which are expected to be restored in April.

The Honolulu CONRAC will offer the same services as the Maui CONRAC, which opened in May 2019 and received “overwhelmingly positive” guest reviews, according to Higashi. The Honolulu facility, which can accommodate 4,500 rental cars, is slightly smaller than the CONRAC in Maui, which can hold approximately 4,600 rental cars.

The project follows the opening in October of the permanent facility of the Federal Inspection Service at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Keahole. The 32,700 square foot facility, which cost approximately $ 58.7 million, allows Kona Airport to serve as a second international point of entry.

It also follows the August opening of a $ 270 million Mauka hall at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, which marked the first gate extension in nearly three decades.

Higashi said the 230,000-square-foot Mauka Lobby can accommodate up to 11 planes at one time, alleviating the pressure at the gate that Daniel K. Inouye International Airport faces every day between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. . Administrative channels. This increased the number of control lanes in Terminal 1 to 10, allowing passengers to cross the entry lines faster and under less congested conditions.

Once tourism normalizes, the Mauka Concourse and Honolulu CONRAC could help the state’s largest airport accommodate more flights and passengers and offer car rental companies the opportunity to increase capacity.

Hawaii DOT Director Jade Butay said in a statement that the Kona permanent inspection facility also ensures the resilience of the state’s air routes.

“Having two international points of entry into the state is important in case an emergency impacts our ability to receive flights at an airport,” Butay said.

The expansion of the hold rooms at the gates of Kahului airport remains to be done as part of the current airport modernization plan. The approximately $ 47 million project, which is expected to be completed in 2024, will increase storage space from 22,000 square feet to 37,000 square feet.

Higashi said general funds and state taxes had not been used for the modernization of the airport, which was paid for by airline rents and landing fees, federal grants, passenger installation fees and airport tax obligations which will be reimbursed with the airport user fee.

He said CONRAC in Honolulu was built using a state customer installation fee, $ 4.50 applied daily to customers who rent a car.

While not part of the current statewide airport modernization projects, DOT Airports’ master planning effort for Lihue Airport also includes various CONRAC concepts.

DOT spokesman Jai Cunningham said further improvements could be funded by President Joe Biden’s $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure act, which will provide Hawaii airports with some $ 246 million in over the next five years.

While improvements to state airports in Honolulu and elsewhere allow for the expansion of tourism, the current focus is more likely to focus on greater efficiency.

Not all Hawaiians are convinced that the benefits of increased tourism will outweigh the costs. The anti-tourism pullback has recently come from those who fear Hawaii may have more visitors than it can handle, especially during the pandemic.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s recently completed Oahu Destination Management Action Plan says the agency will work to “decrease the total number of visitors to Oahu.”

“Reducing the total number of visitors to Oahu to a manageable level by controlling the number of visitor accommodations and exploring changes in land use, zoning and airport policies” is the main anchor action of the Oahu DMAP.

Managing visitor car use is another top priority for Oahu’s DMAP, which focuses on key actions that the community, visitor industry and other sectors deem necessary over a three-year period. year.

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Daniel K. Inouye International Airport Consolidated Rental Car Facility in Honolulu:

>> Footprint: 370,000 square feet

>> Cost: $ 377 million

>> Completion: Opening Wednesday, and more public car parks to restore in April

Source: POINT