Time For An "HNL RareBirds Blast From The Past"

Honolulu International Airport has seen some significant growth over the past 50 years. With the imminent construction for the new Mauka Concourse Terminal on the site of the current Inter-Island Commuter Terminal it's time to take a brief look back 50 years.

This is what Honolulu Airport looked liked in 1960 at the old John Rodgers Terminal on Lagoon Drive. All major terminal operations were relocated to the current HNL Terminal complex and the airport was renamed Honolulu International Airport on August 22, 1962.

The new John Rodgers Terminal provided more efficient loading and boarding of the new jets that were now flying to the Hawaiian Islands. With continued growth the terminal soon became obsolete itself and required a major expansion.

With the arrival of the Boeing 747, HNL went through a further expansion in 1970. As shown here in 1971, the new Diamond Head and Ewa Terminals were completed and were now accommodating hundreds of passengers at a time. The State's tourist boom was now well on its way.

For the year 2011, Honolulu International Airport had 262,000 aircraft movements and served 18 million passengers. A far cry from 1960 when just 1.5 million passengers moved through HNL.

Be sure to click on the images for a more detailed look at the facilites and the aircraft that served Honolulu International.


Over the next decade, or so, HNL will undergo another transformation which will add more gates, infrastructural improvements, and a re-configuration of the existing concourses.