KAHULUI, Maui (AP) — A man drove his SUV into the ticket lobby of Kahului Airport on Sunday morning and set it on fire, grounding outgoing flights for hours. No one was injured. The incident caused cancellation of flights into
KAHULUI, Maui (AP) — A man drove his SUV into the ticket lobby of Kahului Airport on Sunday morning and set it on fire, grounding outgoing flights for hours. No one was injured.
The incident caused cancellation of flights into Sunday evening, stranding the Kapa‘a High School swim team on Maui for the day. The team was scheduled to depart for Lihu‘e Airport at about 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, but was expected to make it to Honolulu International Airport at best on Sunday evening, according to a report from a parent.
An Aloha Airlines employee at Lihu‘e Airport said three flights bound for Kaua‘i from Maui, with a stop-over in Honolulu, were delayed, but Aloha was working on getting those flights to Kaua‘i Sunday night. She added that the airport was re-opened to inter-island flights at 6 p.m.
A Hawaiian Airlines employee at the Lihu‘e Airport said that she was not sure how many flights, both from Maui and from Honolulu, were affected by the airport closure, and that there were some people who would probably not make it to Kaua‘i Sunday night. Passengers on some flights would spend the night in Honolulu, and fly to Lihu‘e Airport this morning, she said.
The incident occurred at about 8 a.m. when a dark blue Dodge Durango was driven into the open-air terminal and its driver ignited it, said Lowrey Leong, the director of the Transportation Security Administration on Maui.
“I went to knock on the window and he just lit it up,” said Kalani Ho‘opi‘i, a baggage handler. Ho‘opi‘i said he and two other baggage handlers went up to the vehicle and saw a can of gasoline and a man flicking a lighter.
The vehicle was about 20 feet from the United Airlines ticket counter with flames rising as high as the ceiling, Leong said.
The 52-year-old driver from Haiku was arrested, officials said, but his identity was not released.
“It’s an isolated incident. It’s a personal matter,” Gov. Linda Lingle said. “The owner of the car was upset about something with a friend of his and, in an emotional rage, he drove his SUV into the lobby of the Kahului Airport. Nobody was hurt. It is not related to terrorism at all.”
The FBI also said it was not an act of terrorism.
“There’s no reason to believe there’s a terrorism nexus,” said Pam McCullough, a spokeswoman for the FBI. “There’s no cause for alarm.”
No major damage was caused in the incident — except for the interior of the SUV — but it froze flights scheduled to leave Maui’s busiest airport for hours. Inter-island flights were allowed to take off Sunday evening, but mainland and international flights remained grounded.
The airport was evacuated and hundreds of would-be passengers were bused to War Memorial Gymnasium and elsewhere to wait, officials said.
The fire was put out fairly promptly but smoke from the blaze caused problems with security screening equipment, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Transportation Department. Ishikawa said baggage would likely be screened by hand when the airport reopened.
The FBI and other officials said Maui police had the SUV’s driver in custody and he was being questioned.
The Garden Island contributed to this report
