Canton Island Airport Canton Island Airport is an airport located on Kanton Island , in the Phoenix Islands , in the Republic of Kiribati . It has a single runway in length , paved with asphalt . Though it was once a major stop on commercial trans - Pacific airline routes , it currently has no commercial airline service . Construction . During World War II , Kanton ( then spelled " Canton " ) Island was considered part of the British - controlled Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony . The atoll is a low , narrow rim of land surrounding a large shallow lagoon . It is 4½ miles wide on the west , from which it narrows to the southeast point , which is nine miles distant from the northwest point . The airfield was built on the island ' s northwestern corner by Pan American Airways between 1938 – 39 , and was used by that airline as a stopover on its route from Hawaii to New Zealand . Pan American also cleared and deepened a portion of the lagoon during this time . The Pan American pioneered central air route , Hawaii to the Philippines and Asia by way of stations at Midway , Wake and Guam passed through the Japanese controlled islands with serious concerns about its safety growing in 1941 even as the Army had reinforced the Philippines with a flight of B - 17 bombers by way of Midway , Wake and Port Moresby in September . The War Department approved a plan with orders effective 4 October 1941 to build an alternate air ferry route skirting the mandated islands and capable of handling planes such as the B - 17s . While a commercial firm was engaged for most of the island stops of the new route , the Kanton field was under construction by a team of Army Engineers and civilian contractors with a target opening of bomber capability by January 1942 . The effort began on 3 November with a transport carrying 130 troops and civilian contractors and towing four barges of equipment departed Honolulu arriving at the island 14 November after losing two of the barges . By 28 December , despite considerable difficulties , the field was declared suitable to accommodate heavy bombers . On 31 January 1942 garrison forces for the island , then codenamed " HOLLY , " sailed from San Francisco . The political status of the island was uncertain at first , with American and British settlers occupying two separate camps on the island . On March 3 , 1938 President Franklin Roosevelt placed Canton and Enderbury Island under jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Interior , but this claim was strenuously resisted by the British government . In April 1939 , Canton and Enderbury were placed under joint British and American control for fifty years , and " thereafter until such time as it may be modified or terminated by mutual consent " . World War II . The airport was used as a military airfield during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 and 1943 , initially being used by the 40th Ferrying ( later Transport ) Squadron , Ferrying ( later Air Transport ) Command as an airfield for moving combat aircraft to forward combat units . The airfield saw various aircraft , including A - 20s , B - 17s , B - 24s , B - 25s , B - 26s , P - 38s , P - 40s , C - 46s , and C - 47s transit the base . In February 1943 , the long - range B - 24 Liberator Bombers of the 392d Bombardment Squadron were sent to the airfield . Though Kanton Island was never physically invaded by Japanese forces , the airfield was bombarded on 1 November 1943 by the Japanese submarine I - 36 . After the war , it was returned to civilian control . After the war . Kanton Island airport continued to see use during the 1950s as a trans - Pacific stopover for DC - 4 , DC - 6B and DC - 7C aircraft for Pan American , British Commonwealth Pacific , Qantas and Canadian Pacific Airlines , but with the advent of long - range jet aircraft during the 1960s , their need for the island faded , and the airfield and its associated facilities were ultimately abandoned in 1965 . It would see occasional use thereafter in conjunction with subsequent U . S . government projects on the island ( largely related to the Manned spaceflight program ) , but with the abandonment of these endeavors , the airport was finally closed for good in 1975 , though it remains available as an emergency landing field .