Kalaeloa Airport (IATA: JRF, ICAO: PHJR, FAALID: JRF), also called John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport) and formerly Naval Air Station Barbers Point, is a joint civil-military regional airport of the State of Hawaiʻi established on July 1, 1999, to replace the Ford Island NALF facilities which closed on June 30 of the same year. Located on the site of the developing unincorporated town of Kalaeloa and nestled between the Honolulu communities of ʻEwa Beach, Kapolei and Campbell Industrial Park in West Oʻahu, most flights to Kalaeloa Airport originate from commuter airports on the other Hawaiian islands. While Kalaeloa Airport is primarily a commuter facility used by unscheduled air taxis, general aviation and transient and locally based military aircraft, the airport saw first-ever scheduled airline service begin on July 1, 2014, with Mokulele Airlines operating flights to Kahului Airport on Maui.
Kalaeloa Airport is part of a centralized state structure governing all of the airports and seaports of Hawaiʻi. The official authority of Kalaeloa Airport is the Governor of Hawaiʻi. He or she appoints the Director of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation who has jurisdiction over the Hawaiʻi Airports Administrator.
The Hawaiʻi Airports Administrator oversees six governing bodies: Airports Operations Office, Airports Planning Office, Engineering Branch, Information Technology Office, Staff Services Office, Visitor Information Program Office. Collectively, the six bodies have authority over the four airport districts in Hawaiʻi: Hawaiʻi District, Kauaʻi District, Maui District and the principal Oʻahu District. Kalaeloa Airport is a subordinate of the Oʻahu District officials.
Airlines and destinations
Mokulele Airlines became the first airline to provide scheduled service at Kalaeloa when it began flights to Kahului Airport on Maui on July 1, 2014.[3] After serving the airport for over two years and finding itself unable to make a profit doing so, the airline ended scheduled service at the airport in September 2016.[4]
CGAS Barbers Point, with its HC-130HHercules and HH-65Dolphin helicopters, was a former tenant command at NAS Barbers Point and continues to operate as the remaining military aviation presence at the airfield.