HONOLULU (KHON2) — State transportation officials confirmed Friday that Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye Airport is among the airports affected by the FAA flight reduction plan.
But officials prefer people to keep traveling to the islands, as they’re doing their best to make sure you don’t miss any important events.
This was supposed to be the biggest weekend for the future Mrs. Kendall Leue Hu. She’s getting married on Tuesday – her seventh anniversary with fiancé Jason. But many of her family members across the country aren’t coming.
“In all planning, I don’t think any bride would ever worry about a government shutdown keeping their family to fly to go see them,” said Kendall Leue Holmstrom, bride-to-be. “Like that never crossed my mind.”
She’s one of the countless who have been affected by the reduction in flights across 40 airports across the country. At the Daniel K Inouye International Airport, transportation officials say at least 5 flights were cancelled related to the reduction.
“If we’re experiencing that kind of difficulty already, I can imagine what somebody that’s going from the east coast to the west coast, or to the other parts of the world,” said Francis Taglang, traveler.
“I think it’s gonna have some major impacts,” said Tambara Garrick, Maui Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, who happened to be traveling. “And what I really worry about is Maui is already struggling with the downturn in the economy, still recovering after the Lahaina fire.”
State Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said things have been going pretty smoothly here in Honolulu. He says that the TSA agents and air traffic controllers have been coming to work even though they’re not getting paid. Which he says says a lot about them.
“And we really appreciate them doing it cause it absolutely supports our community and our economy when they do,” said Sniffen.
Sniffen says he hasn’t heard from the U.S. DOT about an exemption for Hawaii. But says the state will do what it can to keep everything running as smoothly as possible. He urges travelers to check with their airlines for any changes, to hopefully make sure they don’t miss any important moments.
“And that kinda, that breaks my heart,” said Holmstrom. “That we just missed out on that. And there’s nothing I can do. And there’s nothing anyone else can do, but I’m like, really? Like why?”