Hawaii Aviation

Work also began in the late 1950s on a new Interisland Terminal on the North Ramp.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 5, 1959 for the long-awaited jet-age terminal at Honolulu International Airport. Construction began on February 11, 1959.

With an increase in international travel in the 1950s, Honolulu became the point of entry to the United States from Asia and the South Pacific, accommodating the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Customs, Health, and Immigration and Naturalization.

Hawaiian Airlines continued to fly both passengers and cargo between the Hawaiian islands in the 1950s.

Airlines continued to use the crowded Terminal facilities on the South Ramp at Honolulu International Airport that had been built by the military during World War II.

Pan American Airways welcomed its 50,000th passenger to Hawaii on April 29, 1959. Pan American inaugurated Boeing 707 jet service between the Mainland and Hawaii in September 1959.

Qantas Empire Airways landed a Boeing 707 aircraft at HNL enroute to Sydney, Australia, on July 31, 1959. It was the first jet flight into Honolulu. The flight from San Francisco took four hours and 50 minutes

United Airlines inaugurated the first DC-7 passenger service to Hawaii on January 1, 1955. The new service replaced United's Boeing Stratocruiser flights and reduced flight time between California and Hawaii by more than one hour.