Midway Airport Financed Through Sept. 30

Posted on: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 

Midway Airport Financed Through Sept. 30 
Honolulu Advertiser, HI


Congress' approval of the federal budget last week
provided secure financing for the operation of Midway
Atoll's airport, keeping it available for emergency
landings like that of a Continental Airlines jet Jan.
6 with 294 people on board.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, has been
keeping the airfield open with emergency money
provided on a month-by-month basis while awaiting a
long-term source of revenue.

The service had been within days of closing the field
when the Continental flight from Japan to Texas
developed an oil leak in one of its two engines. It
put down at Midway and stayed there to await the
arrival of repair crews and spare parts.

Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, announced that the federal
Department of Transportation would provide $3.2
million to keep the airport running through the end of
the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.

"The emergency landing earlier this month, which
ensured the safety of the nearly 300 people on board,
dramatically underscores the importance of this
runway," Inouye said in a news release. "Midway
currently serves as the only emergency landing
facility in this region of the Pacific."

In addition to the operations money, Midway in
December was authorized up to $2.5 million for repairs
and upgrades through the Century of Aviation
Reauthorization Act, said Barbara Maxfield,
spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service's
Pacific islands office.

The service has three employees and one volunteer on
Midway. About 45 other people are on the island from
airport contractor Chugach McKinley and its
subcontracting firms.


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