Japan Airlines, ZIPAIR urge US Gov’t to keep Midway Atoll open

By Andrew Curran.

Japan Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary, ZIPAIR, have told the US Department of Transportation that Midway Atoll Airport (MDY) is a critical airport for their Pacific flights and should be kept open as an ETOPS alternate airport.

As previously reported in Aero South Pacific, the United States Government is considering whether it is worth spending more than USD100 million to upgrade and rehabilitate Midway Atoll Airport, which serves as an emergency diversion airport for trans-Pacific flights.

Failing to upgrade the little-used airport will ultimately see it lose its certification as an ETOPS-approved alternate airport.

“MDY is a critical airport for our Pacific flights, particularly for our Hawaii routes,” the two carriers told the Department. “Unavailability of MDY would have a severe impact on our operations and frankly speaking it would be unacceptable.”

Hawai’i flights heavily impacted, mainland North America flights also affected

ZIPAIR’s B787-8s fly between Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Honolulu (HNL) three times per week, while Japan Airlines flies between Honolulu and four Japanese airports – Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda (HND), Nagoya (NGO) and Osaka (KIX) – providing around 30 weekly round trips, subject to seasonal variations.

Both airlines’ submissions to the Department said nearly 100% of their Honolulu-bound flights selected Midway Atoll as an ETOPS alternate airport, while around half of the return flights use MDY as an alternate airport, with Wake Island Airfield (AWK) being the other option on homeward-bound flights.

ZIPAIR flies to Vancouver (YVR), San Francisco (SFO), San Jose (SJC), Los Angeles (LAX) and Houston (IAH) on the North American mainland and says approximately 90% of its Vancouver, San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles-bound flights use Midway Atoll as an alternate airport, while around 50% of Houston-bound flights use it.

Aircraft returning to Japan are less reliant on Midway Atoll, but ZIPAIR’s submission says, “there are flights where MDY is necessary, particularly for flights departing from LAX, SJC, and SFO during the summer season.”

“Regardless of the specific percentages, MDY is a critically important airport for our operations throughout the year,” the submission reads.

Japan Airlines calls Midway Atoll a critically important airport

Japan Airlines flies to Vancouver, Seattle (SEA), San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego (SAN) on the North American West Coast, and New York (JFK), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD) and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) elsewhere on the continent.

Japan Airlines says around 90% of its West Coast-bound flights use Midway Atoll as an alternate airport, as do approximately 50% of flights heading to other North American airports. Reliance on Midway Atoll is lower on westbound flights to Japan, but “there are days when MDY is necessary.”

“Regardless of the specific percentages, MDY is a critically important airport for our operations throughout the year,” the Japan Airlines submission says, “investing in MDY will ensure operational safety and aviation network over the Pacific.”

National Airlines also wants Midway Atoll retained as an ETOPS alternate airport

The two Japanese carriers are not the only airlines to contribute to the debate. The US Government’s dilemma is that while Midway Atoll has geostrategic value, the question is whether that value justifies the cost of upgrading the airport to retain its certification.

US Part 131 carrier National Airlines says in its submission that “MDY provides a unique and irreplaceable safety function as an ETOPS alternate in the North-Central Pacific, where geographic options are inherently limited.”

“Removing MDY from the Pacific alternate network would concentrate reliance on a smaller number of distant airports whose availability may be affected by weather, runway condition, infrastructure limitations, or competing operational demands,” National’s submission adds.

“For westbound operations from Hawaii and for certain North-Central Pacific routings, the remaining alternates cannot always provide an equivalent geographic or operational substitute.”

Actual use of Midway is rare. Between 2003 and 2021, there were just 11 commercial and military aircraft diversions to Midway. However, the diverting aircraft included a Hawaiian Airlines A330 and a United Airlines B787-9 filled with passengers. So far, no North American passenger carrier has made a submission to the Department.

Submissions close on September 8.

Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com