Flights disrupted at Hawaii airports due to severe weather, visibility issues

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Travelers at Hawaii airports experienced delays and cancellations due to severe weather Thursday.

Hawaii News Now issued a First Alert Weather Day from Wednesday night through Friday morning as a strong winter storm moves through Hawaii.

A ground stop was issued for interisland flights statewide that essentially kept planes from taking off or landing for about an hour.

The ground stop continued at Daniel K. International Airport in Honolulu, which was ongoing as of 3:30 p.m., and applied to all interisland as well as inbound flights.

“Grounding was because of visibility,” said Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen. “It was very difficult for for pilots to come into or leave Honolulu Airport because of the visibility due to the storm.”

Incoming transpacific flights were diverted to other airports, officials said.

This meant delays for travelers, some of whom had been waiting for hours to get to their intended destinations.

“Based on the satellites I was watching, it looked like we could actually maybe miss the the weather and get home before it hit too hard, but when we were on our way here, I could tell that there might be possibilities of cancellations,” said Pahoa resident Brittany Hutchins.

“Hopefully we make it to Kauai on time, because we have a rental car, hotels all lined up, so it would be a little inconvenient if things didn’t work out, but you know as long as it’s safe,” said Ninglu Weng, a visitor from Winnipeg, Canada.

Transportation officials say they’re coordinating with airlines on flight schedules to make sure things run as smoothly as possible.

They also say that travelers should be in touch with their airline for more information.

Hawaiian Airlines said travel waivers are available for guests traveling to/from Honolulu (HNL), Lihue (LIH), Hilo (ITO), Kona (KOA), and Kahului (OGG) between Wednesday and Friday due to the inclement weather.

Officials also said a power spike at Honolulu’s airport triggered fire alarms and blew out some circuits that needed to be reset.

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