US (Hawaii). Hawaii airports lost US$43 million in income during the last fiscal year because of declining tourism and falling payments from retail concessionaires. State figures recently published for the eight airports in the system – including Honolulu, Kona and Kahului – show that they took in operating revenues of $182.9 million during the fiscal year ended 30 June 2002. This was down more than a third from $287.1 million a year earlier and compares to US$283.0 million in 2000 and US$245.8 million in 1999. At the same time, operating expenses rose last year by +6.8% to $226 million.
Airport revenues from concession fees, Hawaii’s highest earner dropped by US$73.9 million or -41.8% to US $102.9 million. Historically concession fees were as high as US$176.9 million in 2001, US$181.0 million in 2000 and US$178.8 million in 1999.
Airline landing fees also fell by -60.3% to US$14.6 million. The fees were waived for six months to help carriers recover from the September 11 attacks and support tourism.
