Kalaupapa Airport guide

Kalaupapa Airport sits on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on Molokai's north shore, inside Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The peninsula is cut off from the rest of the island by sea cliffs, and the airport is one of only two ways in, alongside the mule and hiking trail. It lies about two nautical miles north of Kalaupapa Settlement. The State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Airports Division, owns and operates the field, and the park and the state Department of Health jointly manage access to the peninsula.

The airfield grew from a 2,000-foot grass strip that opened in 1933. A small passenger terminal was built in 1951, and the single runway, 5/23, was paved in 1953. It measures 2,700 by 75 feet, which limits traffic to small aircraft. There is no control tower. In 2016 the field handled about 3,300 aircraft operations, mostly air taxi flights, with general aviation and military traffic making up the rest.

Scheduled service has changed over the years. Inter-Island Airways flew Sikorsky amphibians here in the 1930s, and Pacific Wings and then Makani Kai Air later ran subsidized flights. Mokulele Airlines now links Kalaupapa with Honolulu and Molokai. The airport also brings in the cargo and supplies the settlement relies on, since no road connects it to the rest of Molokai.