The airport opened on March 21, 1927, as
John Rodgers Airport (aka
Rodgers Field), after World War I naval officer
John Rodgers. It was funded by the territorial legislature and the Chamber of Commerce, and was the first full airport in Hawaii; aircraft had previously been limited to small landing strips, fields, and seaplane docks. From 1939 to 1943, the adjacent Keehi Lagoon was dredged for use by seaplanes, and the dredged soil was moved to HNL to provide more space for conventional planes. The U.S. military grounded all civil aircraft and took over all civil airports after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, and Rodgers Field was designated
Naval Air Station Honolulu. The Navy built a control tower and terminal building, and some commercial traffic was allowed during daylight hours. Rodgers Field was returned to the
Territory of Hawaii in 1946. At the time, at , it was one of the largest airports in the United States, with four paved land runways and three seaplane runways. Qantas introduced these jet flights with
Boeing 707 aircraft operating a routing of Sydney – Fiji – Honolulu – San Francisco. Aeronautical engineer and airline consultant Frank Der Yuen advised in the design of the original building and founded its aerospace museum. The original terminal building on the southeast side of runways 4 was replaced by the
John Rodgers Terminal, which was dedicated on August 22, 1962, and opened on October 14, 1962. which included the Diamond Head Concourse in 1970, the Ewa Concourse in 1972, and the Central Concourse in 1980.
Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) used Honolulu as a transpacific hub for many years, initially as a connecting point between the West Coast and Polynesia (Fiji, New Caledonia, and New Zealand) in 1946, followed by service to
Japan and
China through
Midway Island and
Wake Island from 1947. By 1960, Pan American was serving the airport with Boeing 707 jets. Pan Am flight number 1, operating a 707, flew a westbound routing of San Francisco – Honolulu – Wake Island – Tokyo – Hong Kong and continuing on to New York City via stops in Asia and Europe. The airline also operated nonstop 707 service to Portland, Oregon (continuing to Seattle) and Los Angeles. Pan Am also had direct 707 flights from Honolulu to Calcutta, Guam, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Rangoon, Saigon, and Singapore in 1960.
United Airlines was flying nonstop
Douglas DC-6 "Mainliner" service from San Francisco in 1947 and by 1961 was operating
Douglas DC-8 jet service nonstop from Los Angeles and San Francisco with direct one-stop DC-8 flights from both Chicago and New York City.
British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) began serving the airport during the mid-1940s with
Douglas DC-4 aircraft flying a routing of Sydney – Auckland – Fiji –
Canton Island – Honolulu – San Francisco – Vancouver, B.C. In 1950,
Northwest Airlines was operating nonstop flights from Seattle with
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser propliners; by 1961, Northwest was flying daily Douglas DC-8 jet service on a round trip routing of New York City – Chicago – Seattle – Portland, OR – Honolulu. Also in 1950,
Canadian Pacific Air Lines (which later became
CP Air) was operating service between western Canada and Australia with a routing of Vancouver – Honolulu – Canton Island – Fiji – Sydney. Honolulu-based air carriers Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines had both introduced jet service on their respective inter-island routes in Hawaii by 1966 with Aloha operating
British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets and Hawaiian flying
Douglas DC-9-10 jets with both airlines also continuing to operate turboprops on their island services at this time. According to their respective timetables, Aloha was flying
Fairchild F-27 and
Vickers Viscount propjets while Hawaiian was operating
Convair 640 propjets in addition to their new jet aircraft in 1966. Both local air carriers would eventually operate service to the U.S. mainland as well as to the South Pacific while continuing to operate inter-island flights. In 1986, Hawaiian was operating nonstop
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar service from Honolulu to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle as well as one-stop direct service to Portland, Oregon, and also nonstop Douglas DC-8 service to
Pago Pago with this flight continuing on to
Tonga. By 2003, Aloha was flying nonstop
Boeing 737-700 service to Burbank, Oakland, Orange County, and Vancouver, B.C., with one-stop service to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and Sacramento in addition to operating nonstop flights to
Kwajalein and Pago Pago with one-stop service to
Majuro and
Rarotonga. In the spring of 1969,
Braniff International introduced nonstop
Boeing 707-320 service to Honolulu from
Dallas Love Field, Houston
Hobby Airport, and St. Louis, with one-stop service from Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans. At the same time, United Airlines introduced daily nonstop
Douglas DC-8-62 flights from New York City and was continuing to operate nonstop DC-8 service to Honolulu from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Also in 1969,
Western Airlines was operating nonstop Boeing 707 and
Boeing 720B service not only from several California cities but also from Anchorage, Denver, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and Phoenix. By 1981, Western was operating one-stop
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 service from London
Gatwick Airport via a
polar route with a stop in Anchorage. By the mid-1970s Pan Am offered nonstop service from Honolulu to Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, as well as to cities on the West Coast.
Continental Airlines used Honolulu as a stopover point for charter service to Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam War era, and to feed its Guam-based
Air Micronesia operation. By the early 1970s, Continental was operating scheduled nonstop flights between Honolulu and Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, including
Boeing 747-100 nonstops from Los Angeles and one-stop 747 flights from Chicago. Air Micronesia had service to Guam via stops at Midway Island, Kwajalein, Majuro,
Ponape and
Truk flying a
Boeing 727-100.
American Airlines also operated flights to Auckland, Sydney, Fiji and Pago Pago via Honolulu during the early 1970s in addition to operating nonstop Boeing 707-320 flights from St. Louis. Over the years, many foreign air carriers used Honolulu as a transpacific stopover point, including
Air New Zealand,
BOAC (now
British Airways), British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, Canadian Pacific Air Lines,
China Airlines,
Garuda Indonesia,
Japan Airlines,
Korean Air,
Philippine Airlines, Qantas,
Real Transportes Aereos (a Brazilian airline), and
Singapore Airlines as well as French air carriers
Union de Transports Aeriens (UTA) and its predecessor
Transports Aeriens Intercontinentaux (TAI). BOAC served Honolulu as part of its around the world services during the 1960s and early 1970s, first with
Bristol Britannia turboprop airliners and later with Boeing 707 and
Vickers VC10 jets. Pan Am,
Trans World Airlines (TWA) and Japan Airlines also served Honolulu as a stop on their respective around the world services during the early 1970s. In 1979, Braniff International was operating all of its flights from the airport with
Boeing 747 aircraft with nonstops to Dallas–Fort Worth, Guam, and Los Angeles as well as one-stop service to Hong Kong and also one-stop service to Bogota in South America. Several small airlines based in the South Pacific also served Honolulu. In 1983,
Air Nauru was operating
Boeing 737-200 nonstop flights from Majuro with direct service from
Nauru,
Air Niugini was flying Boeing 707 aircraft nonstop from
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and
Air Tungaru was operating Boeing 727-100 aircraft nonstop from
Christmas Island. Also in 1983, Honolulu-based
South Pacific Island Airways was operating nonstop Boeing 707 service from Anchorage, Guam, Pago Pago and Papeete. In April 1974, American Airlines, Braniff International, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Pan Am, TWA, United Airlines and Western Airlines were all operating nonstop services on domestic routes from the U.S. mainland while CP Air, a Canadian airline, was operating international nonstop service from Vancouver and on to the South Pacific during the mid-1970s. Just over 25 years later, in June 1999, U.S.-based air carriers operating domestic nonstop services from the mainland included American Airlines,
American Trans Air, Continental,
Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Northwest, TWA, and United, while
Air Canada,
Canadian Airlines International (the successor to CP Air), and
Canada 3000 were operating nonstop services from Canada.
Modernization and history since 2006 After thirty years, Ossipoff's "forward-looking and flexible design" for the Overseas Terminal had become quite dated. The plan involves implementing short-term projects within the first five years to improve passenger service and increase security and operational efficiencies. As part of the modernization, flight display monitors throughout the airport were upgraded, new food and beverage vendors were added, and a new parking garage across from the international arrival terminal was completed. An international arrivals corridor with moving sidewalks built atop the breezeway leading to the Ewa Concourse was completed in 2010. In 2011, Hawaiian Airlines renovated the check-in lobby of the Interisland Terminal, replacing the traditional check-in counters with six circular check-in islands in the middle of the lobbies, which can be used for inter-island, mainland, and international flights. This renovation project was fully funded by Hawaiian Airlines and not a part of the modernization program. By 2012, Hawaiian Airlines was re-establishing Honolulu International Airport as a connecting hub between the United States mainland and the Asia-Pacific region. That year, according to a
Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, the airport had 24% fewer domestic departure flights than it did in 2007. During the 2016 legislative session, the Hawaii state legislature passed a resolution requesting that the
U.S. Department of Transportation rename Honolulu International Airport for the late U.S. senator and
Medal of Honor recipient
Daniel Inouye. The new name first appeared in
Federal Aviation Administration documentation on April 27, 2017, and the airport was officially renamed in a ceremony at the airport on May 30, 2017. On June 1, 2018, the
Hawaii Department of Transportation started renumbering all gates and baggage claim carousels. Gates were renamed alphanumerically, baggage carousels were renumbered from alphanumerical to numerical, and the Interisland and Overseas terminals were redesignated Terminals 1 and 2 respectively. HDOT cited the expansion of existing terminals in the airport as a reason to renumber all gates and baggage carousels. The renumbering was the first done since 1993. After years of delays, the state airports division broke ground on the Mauka Concourse in Terminal 1 on May 30, 2018, and completed construction on August 26, 2021. The first concourse expansion at HNL since 1995, the new concourse includes gates that can accommodate wide-body jets, thus reducing the need for Hawaiian Airlines passengers to walk between Terminals 1 and 2 for overseas arrivals and departures, and freeing up gate space for other airlines. A new consolidated rental car facility (CONRAC) was built on the east side of Terminal 2 and was completed on December 1, 2021. The 1.8 million square foot five-story facility is a short walk from Terminal 2 baggage claim and is also served by a consolidated shuttle bus service. In September 2024, the airport announced that travelers with a Hawaii drivers' license or identification card can now present a digital ID at TSA checkpoints at the airport, marking Hawaii as the 11th state to allow the use of digital IDs at security. ==Facilities==