After careful consideration the Hawaii Department of\nTransportation Airports Division (HDOTA) has concluded that operating\nDillingham Airfield (HDH) is not in the best interest of the State of Hawaii\nand has notified the Department of the Army and the Federal Aviation\nAdministration (FAA) that it is exercising its right to terminate the Army\nLease effective June 30, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDillingham Airfield is the only airport in the HDOTA system\nthat is not owned by the State and it is in the best interest of the State to\ntransfer the airfield back to the Army to manage and maintain, based on several\nfactors including the uncertainty of the lease, risk of losing federal funds,\nthe water system issues, and lack of authority over the facility,\u201d said\nDirector Jade Butay, Hawaii Department of Transportation. \u201cIn addition, HDOTA\nsubsidizes a million dollars a year for the operation and maintenance at the\nairfield and we will focus the resources on the remaining 14 airports in our\njurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HDOTA provides the following contributing factors as some of\nthe contentions to its decision to terminate the lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Current Term of the Lease (5 years) – In 1961, the U.S. Army\nhad offered the State the use of the HDH for 20 years. In 1983, the U.S. Army\nnegotiated a 25-year lease which ended in 2008. In 2009, the Lease was\nnegotiated for a lease term of 25-years until 2034; however, that Lease term\nwas later amended by the parties to a five-year term ending in 2014. In 2014,\nthe Lease term had been extended until 2019, and then further extended until\n2024. The HDOTA has been unsuccessful in establishing a longer term lease with\nthe U.S. Army over the last eight years. For the HDOTA permittees, permit terms\nof five (5)-years cannot qualify them for significant loans (financing) for\nmajor airport development such as hangars, business buildings\/offices, or other\nairport infrastructure improvements. For the HDOTA itself, this inability to\nestablish long-term leases (leases longer than (20)-years) directly affects the\nHDOTA\u2019s eligibility as an airport sponsor, to apply\/receive any Airport\nImprovement Program (AIP) grants. In any event, at this point, the HDOTA is no\nlonger seeking a long-term lease for the HDH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grant Assurance 5, Preserving Rights and Powers (an Airport\nSponsor must preserve its rights and powers to control and operate the\nairport). Under the terms and conditions of the Lease, the HDOTA lacks the\nability to fully exercise its rights and powers. Under the Lease, all military\nflight operations and ground maneuvers will take precedence over civilian\naircraft operations. Under the Lease, all airport improvements (by the airport\nsponsor and\/or by the permittees), along with all land\/parcel sublet documents\n(e.g. leases, revocable permits) must be submitted for review and approval by\nthe U.S. Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Water System Responsibility Revenue Diversion. The water\nsystem at HDH along with the wells and their permitted pump allocation is\nleased to the HDOTA. The HDOTA must maintain the buildings and its contents\n(Water pump; Water Supply Treatment\/Chlorinator facility). This utility system\nprovides the sole water supply to the HDH and the surrounding civilian\/public\ncommunity of about a dozen residents; one commercial bed and breakfast\noperator; a City and County of Honolulu beach park; a U.S. Army beach parcel; a\nU.S. Air Force radar installation; and a YMCA Camp (capable of supporting\ngroups of up to 300 persons). The HDOTA is not in the business of being a water\nsystem operator or purveyor and, among other issues, no fees are collected. The\nFAA has warned HDOTA that HDOTA\u2019s current role regarding the water systems is\nnot allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo continue the agreement at HDH could put HDOTA at risk\nfor loss of additional financial resources and grants in the airports system\nfrom the FAA,\u201d said Deputy Director Ross Higashi, Hawaii Department of\nTransportation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After careful consideration the Hawaii Department of Transportation Airports Division (HDOTA) has concluded that operating Dillingham Airfield (HDH) is not in the best interest of the State of Hawaii and has notified the Department of the Army and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it is exercising its right to terminate the Army Lease effective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hawaii"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14771,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14770\/revisions\/14771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}