US carriers and Boeing push for $100m investment in Midway Atoll airport

Boeing and several airlines want the US to spend at least $100 million to keep Midway Atoll's airport ready for operations, aerotelegraph.com reports. Almost no aircraft take off or land there.

Midway Atoll sits in the northern Pacific, roughly halfway between California and Japan, which is where it gets its name. It has two main islands, Sand Island and Eastern Island, where former runways are still visible. The United States annexed the uninhabited atoll in 1856.

Pan American began using Midway in 1935 as a stop on flights between San Francisco and Hong Kong, flown with Martin M-130 flying boats. It became a military base in 1940. In 1942 the US won the Battle of Midway at sea against Japan, and during the Korean and Vietnam wars the atoll served as a military staging post.

Midway has no military role today and is used for science and conservation. The air force base closed in 1993, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which also manages the airport, has controlled the atoll since 1996. Nearly three million birds nest there year-round, among them the world's largest population of albatrosses, along with Bonin petrels and the endangered Laysan duck. Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles and spinner dolphins visit the lagoon. A wildlife livestream is available from the atoll.