Funding keeps Midway Island airport open

The runway at Midway Island remains open for emergency landings, thanks to $3.2 million from the DOT. The money will be used to upgrade navigational aids and maintain the runway until at least September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The airfield was on the verge of closing January 6 when a Continental Airlines 777 with nearly 300 people aboard made an emergency landing at the former U.S. Navy base after experiencing a mechanical problem. Midway, some 1,200 miles from Hawaii, is the only emergency landing facility in that part of the Pacific.