PROP (Part 135 Regulated Operators Partnership) has four main beefs with the state over operations at Kahului Airport. In a letter to Bob Awana, Gov. Linda Lingle’s chief of staff, they were summarized as:
- Ratemaking methodology.
- Signatory designation.
- Ground lease and terms.
- Facilities access and use.
Of these, facilities access and use has been the sorest point lately. When the Airports Division suddenly announced in August that the passenger holding area at the commuter terminal would be set aside as a secure site for Island Air, the other operators were alarmed.
The effect would have been to keep their passengers out of the holding area in the sun and provided with portable toilets in the parking lot.
Island Air wanted a “sanitized” terminal, so it could transfer baggage into secure areas at other airports. Under the rules established by the federal Transportation Security Administration, each user is responsible for having personnel to assist with security in a sanitized zone.
Even the TSA was caught short by the August announcement, saying it did not have the staff or equipment available to provide screening on short notice.
PROP protested, and the two parties – Island Air and small operators like Mokulele Flight Service and George’s Flying Service – are, for now, coexisting with Island Air’s operations in an unsecured commuter terminal.
When the dispute started, Kahlstorf said Island Air ought to relocate to the main terminal with the “big airlines.” Island Air and the Airports Division contended the main Kahului terminal was too crowded and would not be safe for Island Air’s de Havilland DASH-8 turboprop aircraft.
While airports officials said it was not safe to mix the 37-passenger prop plane with jetliners, Kahlstorf points out there are other airports, such as at Lihue, where Island Air declines the commuter terminal and flies into the main terminal.
Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the Department of Transportation, says the difference is that Kahului is one of the busiest airports in the country; Lihue is not.
Kahlstorf said he thought Island Air was trying to eliminate competition on interisland routes by making life difficult for the little guys. And through a Freedom of Information Act request, he finally found what he thinks is the smoking gun.
He found that Roy Sakata, who is the state airports operations officer, is a former employee of Aloha Airlines and as such gets free tickets for himself and his relatives on Aloha and also Island Air, which until this year was part of Aloha Airgroup.
This, says Kahlstorf, is a conflict of interest, since Sakata is making decisions that affect his former employer. Also, he charges, Sakata did not disclose this relationship in official filings with the Federal Aviation Administration.
In a letter sent Nov. 24, Haraga wrote PROP that “after careful review, the department is unable to provide any documented information involving any possible conflicts of interest of employees nor appointees of the state of Hawaii, Department of Transportation.”
Ishikawa said Thursday, after the television ads ran, that DOT had “checked with the state Ethics Commission” and had a verbal advisory that Sakata’s trips, as part of a retirement package, are not considered a conflict of interest. A written statement is to come later.
Kahlstorf contends that PROP’s dispute was taken out of the hands of Davis Yogi, the airports division administrator, and given to Deputy Director Brian Sekiguchi because Yogi was too much of a stickler for rules.
He claims that when he met Sekiguchi and Haraga, neither could even tell him which state airports have commuter terminals.
As far as Kahlstorf and PROP are concerned, the state has little role, because they are federally regulated carriers and entitled to equal treatment. Yet they have not been accepted as “signatory carriers,” which would give them votes on the Airport Operations Committee, dominated by the big airlines.
Ishikawa says Pacific Wings did not seek signatory status until September and apparently is the first general aviation airline to do so.
In the past, applications have taken a year to handle, because of legal and financial background investigations. The signatories have to agree to make up any deficits in airport operations that are not covered by rents and fees.
Exactly, says Kahlstorf. With several of the big carriers in bankruptcy and “not able to guarantee they can make payroll,” what are those agreements worth to the state, he asks.
“We’ll take a look at that,” said Ishikawa, though no signatory has ever had its status revoked.
Kahlstorf says he e-mailed files of the TV ads to Haraga and other officials Monday. Ishikawa says he and Haraga did not get them, though he was aware before Wednesday that Kahlstorf had notified the governor’s office of the coming campaign.
The spot opens with a shot of Haraga giving an Oahu highway traffic report, a regular feature on Honolulu stations. The theme is “What Rodney isn’t telling you.”
It directs viewers to an Internet site, www.airportscandal.com, that provides copies of PROP’s correspondence with state officials and asks for public support and information.
Kahlstorf says he turned to Awana when he couldn’t make progress with the DOT officials. “He listened,” said Kahlstorf Wednesday, but nothing seemed to happen.
He was disappointed, because Lingle campaigned on the issue of cleaning up the Airports Division, where several administrators in Honolulu were prosecuted for contract frauds.
But, says Kahlstorf, “It’s the same old tricks, different administration.”
Thus the advertising campaign to try to pique interest among the public and state legislators.
“We think the whole media campaign is based on several Pacific Wings demands to the state,” Ishikawa says, such as getting Island Air out of the commuter terminal. He says the Airports Division has attempted to meet Pacific Wings’ requests, such as separating Island Air from the small airlines at the commuter terminal.
He says Pacific Wings, when it couldn’t get Island Air into the main terminal, asked to be put there itself, but the Airports Division said no, for the same reason – it didn’t want to mix propellor planes and jets.
Ishikawa called PROP’s charges “some pretty heady allegations,” but would not respond in kind. DOT “does not have money to put in ads,” he says.
