The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached an agreement for the FAA to pay the cost of running the airport at Midway Atoll.

The agreement, which also will cover 39 percent of the indirect costs of managing the airport, assures its continued operation, which had been threatened by budget concerns.

The old Navy airfield at Midway, 1,200 miles northwest of Honolulu, serves as an emergency landing spot for trans-Pacific air service as well as a stopping and refueling place for Coast Guard rescue and law-enforcement flights into the middle of the Pacific.

Additionally, the atoll is a national wildlife refuge — a nesting spot for hundreds of thousands of seabirds of more than a dozen species, a place where monk seals pup and sea turtles haul out.

"The airfield at Midway Atoll is a critical facility to support Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, law enforcement and marine environmental protection in the central north Pacific Ocean," said Capt. Chris J. Conklin, chief of the response division of the 14th Coast Guard District.

"It is routinely used as a staging airfield for medical evacuations of sick or injured seamen, and its proximity to the trans-Pacific shipping lanes greatly reduces the amount of time in which these patients can be airlifted to emergency medical assistance in Hawai'i," he said.

The airport had become an issue for the Fish and Wildlife Service for several reasons: it's more airport than the service needs, the service has no particular expertise at running airports, and the cost of hiring a specialized contractor has been draining wildlife budgets when special appropriations haven't been available.

"We think we've finally resolved that issue," said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, who said the U.S. Department of Transportation — parent agency of the FAA — has agreed to pay for operation of the field.

Scarlett will be among state and federal officials joining Gov. Linda Lingle on a two-day tour of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which starts today.

The group will stop for the night at Midway Atoll. The federal officials on the trip also will be looking into operation of the airport as well as plans for rehabilitation of several buildings on the islands.

The federal agencies signed an agreement Oct. 13 under which the FAA will cover all direct costs of running the airport, as well as indirect costs such as water, electricity and sewage systems.

"The airport is wide open," said Barbara Maxfield, information and education specialist at the Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Islands office.

The contractor running the island's nonwildlife operations is Chugach Industries of Alaska, which started work Oct. 1 under a one-year contract with options to extend up to four years.

Chugach operates the airport, fuel operations, utilities, food and housing, medical facilities and maintains historic structures.

The operations at Midway are benefiting from downsized generation and water systems.

"The infrastructure was significantly larger than was necessary, and we've gotten appropriations to downsize some of it," Scarlett said.

The power plant on the island already has been downsized, with two smaller 450-kilowatt generators replacing larger ones supplied previously by the Navy. The smaller generators better fit the island's power needs.

"One of these generators generally meets the island's electrical needs, but the second one automatically kicks on when needed," the island Web site says.

Conklin said the airport and the harbor at Midway serve important functions in a remote part of the ocean.

"Having access to an airfield for Barbers Point Coast Guard HC-130 aircraft and a port for cutters gives the Coast Guard an effective 1,200 nautical-mile 'head start' and greatly extends our operational reach into the north central Pacific," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.