Midway Refueling, Emergency Landing Site May Close

[afang]

ATLANTA (AP)--A key U.S. Coast Guard refueling base and one of the few emergency landing spots for commercial airliners in the North Pacific could be in jeopardy when a Georgia-based firm abandons the historic Midway Islands.
Midway Phoenix Corp. says it will close its ecotourism resort on the three-island atoll in early March, citing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services restrictions that make it too difficult to be profitable.

Midway Phoenix, of Cartersville, has inhabited Sand Island -the largest of the chain 1,200 miles northwest of Honolulu -under a federal government contract since 1996, building a resort around the former Navy base and operating the airfield, harbor and power plant.

When the company's 150 employees leave the island, those operations will cease. That concerns the Coast Guard, which depends on the island as a refueling stop during law enforcement and rescue operations.

"If I don't have Midway, that area gets a little bit bigger," said Capt. Steven Newell, the Coast Guard's chief of the expansive North Pacific district.

Also, some commercial air routes between the United States and Asia would likely have to be changed. A Federal Aviation Administration rule requires that two-engine jets stay within 1,000 miles of an emergency landing spot in case they lose an engine.

Midway served that function for many trans-Pacific routes, and Boeing, the leading maker of two-engine commercial jets, even paid to help maintain the airfield on the island, Newell said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286...l?mod=INDUSTRY

[afang]

ATLANTA (AP)--A key U.S. Coast Guard refueling base and one of the few emergency landing spots for commercial airliners in the North Pacific could be in jeopardy when a Georgia-based firm abandons the historic Midway Islands.
Midway Phoenix Corp. says it will close its ecotourism resort on the three-island atoll in early March, citing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services restrictions that make it too difficult to be profitable.

Midway Phoenix, of Cartersville, has inhabited Sand Island -the largest of the chain 1,200 miles northwest of Honolulu -under a federal government contract since 1996, building a resort around the former Navy base and operating the airfield, harbor and power plant.

When the company's 150 employees leave the island, those operations will cease. That concerns the Coast Guard, which depends on the island as a refueling stop during law enforcement and rescue operations.

"If I don't have Midway, that area gets a little bit bigger," said Capt. Steven Newell, the Coast Guard's chief of the expansive North Pacific district.

Also, some commercial air routes between the United States and Asia would likely have to be changed. A Federal Aviation Administration rule requires that two-engine jets stay within 1,000 miles of an emergency landing spot in case they lose an engine.

Midway served that function for many trans-Pacific routes, and Boeing, the leading maker of two-engine commercial jets, even paid to help maintain the airfield on the island, Newell said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286...l?mod=INDUSTRY