(01-20-2024, 06:21 AM)HiloJulie Wrote: In as much as I am shocked, but elated that the State along with private sector contractors were able to repair the damaged runway as fast as they did, it surprises me that United Airlines, which had to divert two flights - one a Boeing 777 from Denver, the other a 737 from SFO, did not have some sort of emergency contingency plan to use Hilo instead of diverting to Oahu and Maui respectively.
The pilots would have had Hilo listed as an alternative airport in case of an emergency. This was not an emergency and then there are different types of emergencies. Some require landing at the nearest suitable airport, some have landing at the nearest available airport. For example, if you have a fire onboard you land at the nearest available airport. If you have a medical emergency, you land at the nearest suitable airport.
This was not an emergency. A diversion due to bad weather would end up the same way. The aircraft (more than a dozen) diverted to airports that had the facilities to handle nonemergency diversions. Hilo would be a last resort for the pilots to choose as there are no facilities there for the legacy airlines, so you would just end up with even more delays compared to diverting to Honolulu or Maui. If a plane was on fire and the nearest airport was Hilo, it would have landed there, but that's not the case here.