iniBuilds has recently released their rendition of Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (PHNL) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, serving the Hawaiian city of Honolulu with a yearly average of 18.3 million passengers.

It opened in March 1927 as John Rodgers Airport, after a WW1 naval officer. It was the first full airport in Hawaii, as they only had landing strips, fields, and seaplane docks beforehand.

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After Pearl Harbor, the airport became Naval Air Station Honolulu, with a control tower built by the Navy, a terminal building, and passenger traffic was even allowed during daylight hours. It was returned right after the war, in 1946. 

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It was renamed “Honolulu Airport” in 1947 and internationalized in 1951. It became an important stop for many transpacific flights, rapidly becoming one of the busiest airports in the United States. It even had the longest runway in the world (back in 1953), at a then-impressive 3,992 meters.

The original terminal was replaced by a new one in 1962, which was eventually modernized in the 70s by Vladimir Ossipoff, who entirely remodeled the terminal and added new concourses.

In the early 2000s, Ossipoff’s modern terminal was not so modern anymore, and the “forward-looking” and flexible design was showing its age, facing the challenges of the modern standards of accessibility, comfort, and security. In response, the government unveiled a 2.3 billion USD modernization program for all Hawaiian airports over 12 years, with 1.7 billion for Honolulu alone.

Many infrastructure upgrades were made during that period, and a new concourse was built between 2018-2021, featuring gates that can easily accommodate widebody jets, making life easier for Hawaiian Airlines passengers that will no longer have to walk between terminals for overseas departures.

The current layout sports three terminals, with 54 jetways and six stands. Terminal 1 has 25 jetways, 2 has 29, and 3 has parking stands. 

It’s a hub for Aloha Air Cargo, Asia Pacific Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Mokulele Airlines, Transair, and Corporate Air. The visitors’ list includes Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Fiji Airways, Japan Airlines, Jetstar, Korean Air, Philippine Airlines, Qantas, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, WestJet, and Zipair Tokyo.

The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with an up-to-date layout,  hand-made textures, high-quality surrounding POIs, true-to-life landside recreation, an official GSX profile, dynamic lighting, and a detailed terminal interior.

It’s available on the iniBuilds Store for roughly $25.17, requiring at least 5.36 GB of free hard disk space. 10% of all revenue will be donated to the American Red Cross for the Hawaiian Wildfire crisis. 

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!

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