Transfer of Power: How Kailua-Kona Became Hawai’i’s Main Gateway to the World

While airports that serve the same markets tend to get along, one almost always excels compared to the other. Chicago's O’Hare and Orlando International Airport are two examples of airports that tower over their smaller counterparts like Chicago-Midway and Orlando-Sanford, respectively. However, in Hawaii on the main island of Hawai’i, it is the much smaller town of Kailua-Kona that has trumped the main town of Hilo. But how? When the island started showing demand for an airport in the 1950s,…