The Maui News Sunday, August 15, 2004

By EDWIN TANJI City Editor

KAHULUI - The president of a Kahului-based commuter airline said Saturday that he is prepared to file a complaint in federal court over a decision by state airports officials to set up the Kahului commuter terminal as a secure area beginning Monday.

"It's illegal to give any scheduled airline a competitive advantage over any other scheduled airline. We will seek an injunction to prevent the airport from proceeding," he said. "If we don't see a change by the end of the day (Saturday), we will be asking for an injunction just on the anti-competitive action."

Jon Sakamoto, Maui airports manager, announced the move Friday during an impromptu meeting called at the airport, which Pacific Wings did not attend. Sakamoto subsequently issued an e-mail Friday to the tenants in the commuter terminal detailing the decision, which is to provide a secure area for Island Air operations at the request of Island Air.

But some of the points in his e-mail notice apparently are still in question.

A key concern raised in the e-mail notice was that passengers of other airlines in the commuter terminal would not have access to the public restrooms, which are on one side of the terminal's holding area.

Portable toilets will be provided, but Kahlstorf said that is discriminating against passengers on the smaller airlines who would be relegated to the hot and less sanitary temporary facilities.

Lowrey Leong, Transportation Security Administration chief for Maui airports, said passengers for the other commuter airlines can utilize the public restrooms if they are ticketed and go through the security screening.

He said the security staff would specifically accommodate individuals who are handicapped who would have difficulty using portable toilets that are also being set up for passengers who do not enter the secure holding area.

"We have no problem with that. I say if people need to use the restroom, they just have to go through the screening checkpoint. It will be a little different. If the passenger is handicapped, of course, we'll try to make an adjustment," he said.

Pacific Wings also can send its passengers through the secure area if it wants to, Leong and Sakamoto said. There is no fee for using the secure area, but the airline would need to provide personnel to assist in the secured holding area if its passengers are waiting there.

Kahlstorf on Friday protested the short notice given to the airlines that displaces their passengers from the previously open holding area.

"This was all pulled together at the last minute. We've been waiting two years for a lease from the airport authority but when Island Air announced its schedule three weeks ago, it gets what it wants," he said.

He said his protest is not only for his airline, which could send its passengers to the secure area, but for the other small airlines operating out of the Kahului commuter terminal - who he said would need to develop approved plans for TSA before they could send passengers through the secure area.

Kahului Airport managers could have instead had Island Air loading its passengers from the secure main terminal as is done in Hilo and Kona, he said.

"Why would you want to inconvenience every other small airline when you can accommodate Island Air by moving them into the main terminal that is designed and designated for secure operations," he said.

Sakamoto said he cannot move Island Air to the main terminal because of a lack of ramp space for the aircraft as well as a concern over potential problems with the small Dash-8 turboprop aircraft being mixed in with the jetliners used by both the interisland and transpacific airlines.

"We don't have the ramp space airside to accommodate the little guys. The mix of jets and props, it would be just a mess," he said.

The Kahului commuter terminal, just off the shorter runway on the north side of the airport, now handles five airlines, of which only two, Island Air and Pacific Wings are scheduled airlines. The others - Maui Air, Paragon and Air Links - operate tours or charters.

The plan to establish a secure area would set aside the holding area on the south side of the terminal building for Island Air passengers who pass through the screening checkpoint to be set up in the terminal. Passengers on other airlines would be provided seating along the front of the terminal where the ticket counters are located, with portable toilets set up on the north side of the building.

Sakamoto said Island Air requested its passengers be screened at Kahului to accommodate its code-sharing agreements with other airlines, including Aloha and Hawaiian - providing for Island Air passengers arriving in Honolulu to have their luggage transferred directly to the larger aircraft on transpacific flights.

"The reason why Island Air wants to start on the 15th (today) is they want a Maui-Honolulu run to go in sterile (with security clearance). It accommodates the process of them getting their passengers on connecting flights," he said.

He said Island Air is operating out of "sterile" holding areas in Kona, Hilo, Lihue and Honolulu.

"It's just Kahului that's not, and it's the hub," he said.

The decision to set up the Kahului commuter terminal as a secure area is also a problem for the TSA. Leong said any airline can request to have its passengers screened and TSA would need to provide the staff, which will not be easy with the Island Air request.

"We're going to need more people and equipment, and we don't have the equipment," he said. "We're waiting for more equipment. I'm not sure what we will do with the staff. We are hiring additional screeners.

"It would be nice if Island Air could be handled through the main terminal, but Jon said they could not," Leong said.

Edwin Tanji can be reached at editor@mauinews.com.