73-200 Kupipi St
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
(808) 327-9520
Kona International Airport at Keāhole is on the Island of Hawaii, in Kalaoa CDP, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The airport serves leeward, or Western Hawaii island, including the town of Kailua-Kona and the resorts of the North Kona and South Kohala districts.HistoryMuch of the runway is built on a relatively recent lava flow: the 1801 Huehue flow from Hualālai. This flow extended the shoreline out an estimated 1mi, adding some 4km2 of land to the island and creating Keāhole Point. The new airport opened on July 1, 1970, with a single 6500ft runway; the previous smaller airstrip was converted into the Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area.Construction crews from Bechtel Corporation had used three million pounds of dynamite to flatten the lava flow (which was riddled with Lava tubes) within 13 months.In its first full year, 515,378 passengers passed through the new open-air tropical-style terminals. The aquaculture ponds and solar energy experiments at the nearby Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) can be seen during landing and take-off.It was originally known as Ke-āhole Airport, since the āhole fish (Kuhlia sandvicensis) was found nearby.