Planes landing at Kailua-Kona Airport

Plane landing at Kailua-Kona airport

Hawaii has the reputation of being a tropical paradise, but arriving at Kailua-Kona Airport looks anything but. The final approach to the airport comes over the 1801 Huʻehuʻe lava flow from Hualali volcano. This flow is still quite barren with next to no vegetation. For first-time visitors, touching down on actual tarmac can come as something of a relief.

Exiting the plane, it will most likely be hot, but sunny? Not so much, especially if touchdown is after noon. Typically, clouds roll in during the morning and vog (volcanic smog, caused by pollutants from Kilauea Volcano) settles over the area. The appearance, seen in these photos, is sometimes called ‘concrete skies.’ Not a bad description.

Plane landing at Kailua-Kona

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3 thoughts on “Planes landing at Kailua-Kona Airport”

  1. Terri Webster Schrandt

    We arrived to Kailua-Kona AP at about 5:30pm in January. It was sunny and the sunset was beautiful (from the Budget Rental Car building while waiting 45 minutes for a car we previously reserved). I was a little sad that it wasn’t green and lush like Honolulu. We drove to Hilo that evening and awakened to riotous green! As we drove back the following week for our flight home I had new appreciation for this area after visiting Kilauea and various spots on the BI. A new Island like this had to be volcanic somewhere! I also heard the BI didn’t have the torrential rains that Kauai had.

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    1. Graham Post author

      Hi Terri. In February I drove down from North Kohala to Two Step, beyond Captain Cook, and it was clear and crisp all the way down, all through the day, and all the way back home. Sometimes it’s like that, but more often, it’s not. I don’t mind the lava fields because I find them interesting and you don’t have to travel far to reach a completely different climate and very different landscape. You’re right we didn’t have the rains like Kauai, but it has been very grey and wet here for more than two months, which is a bit unusual. Tomorrow, I’m heading over, through HIlo, to Kilauea to check out the lava lake at the summit, which has been overflowing, on and off, for the past few days. Hope to post something about that soon.

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