Flyers worldwide may see higher prices if this remote airport is closed

Thousands of flights could be impacted through higher fares or cancelled routes if an airport on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean doesn't get a $100 million dollar fix.

The airport on Midway Atoll, 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, has no commercial air service but is an emergency landing option for thousands of flights crossing the Pacific each year. If airlines lose the option to land there when they have an engine failure, they would need to use longer, more expensive routes or cut destinations entirely.

The FAA is weighing whether or not it should fund these major repairs at Henderson Field (MDY) on Midway Atoll. According to the agency, the airport's infrastructure is "deteriorating" and the facilities will need significant fixes within the next few years.

The airport currently receives $2.5 million per year from the FAA and $2.6 million from the Fish and Wildlife Service -- but the estimated cost for the repairs the airport needs, which include "milling, repaving, and seawall repairs," exceeds $100 million.

The island has a population of about 40 people who all work at the national wildlife refuge on the island.

Even though commercial flights don't land there, the island is critical to airlines because it's a place where planes can divert if they have an emergency and an engine fails. This is a requirement from the International Civil Aviation Organization called Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS).

These standards ensure that if a plane has an engine failure, it will still be able to reach a diversion airport within a certain amount of time. This is particularly critical over water or remote areas.

The FAA said that between 2023 and 2021, at least 11 commercial and military flights diverted to Midway.

"Although diversions to MDY are infrequent, the airport's value should not be measured by frequency of diversions alone," airline lobbying group Airlines For America said in their comment on the federal register. "Emergency infrastructure exists to mitigate low-probability, high-consequence events ... MDY adds valuable redundancy in one of the most remote operating environments in the world and has supported actual emergency diversions."

In United's comment, the airline said it relies on Midway as a potential diversion airport for more than 8,000 annual flights, or 20 per day. The airline noted that across all carriers, Midway is included in ETOPS planning for about 44,000 flights per year.

United said the loss of Midway could cause "severe operational and economic consequences" for the airline's operations in the North Pacific. It noted operations were already difficult due to the closure of Russian airspace, which has constricted routes and made Russian airports off-limits for diversions.

If Midway were decommissioned, the airline said it could increase costs to the point of cutting routes. United estimated that it could cost the company more than $21.75 million, which would be passed down to customers in fares and rates, along with adding time to flights.

Midway is particularly critical when North Pacific operations are affected by severe weather, volcanic ash, temporary airspace restrictions or military activity, the International Air Transport Association said

Alaska Airlines uses Midway as an alternate airport for over 2,000 flights between Honolulu and Asia annually, the airline said. Alaska said it's also used on the Seattle to Asia routes when other airports are unavailable due to volcanic ash and rocket launches. Other diversion airports in Guam or the Marshall Islands are in an area where tropical cyclones can interfere with operations.

Friends of Midway Atoll noted that the airport is the only place to evacuate sick and injured people from that part of the Pacific, and it aids in long-range search and rescue operations. The atoll is also used by scientific agencies for oceanographic seismic monitoring that detects tsunamis, monitoring sea level and ocean temperatures, tracking nuclear detonations and maintaining contaminated landfills on the island, the organization said.

"MDY is necessary to protect public health and safety, safety of public property and public resources, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States," Friends of Midway Atoll said.