American Samoa's congressman, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin says the US Federal Aviation Administration has provided nearly 2 point 6 million dollars to repair the Tafuna airport runway and purchase a sweeper to keep the runway clear of debris.
The funds will be used for a permanent overlay of the portion of runway which had deteriorated and was littered with loose debris.
The runway had been closed following the suspension of Hawaiian Air flights to the territory after some of its aircraft suffered damage from the debris.
Temporary repairs were carried out to allow flights to resume to deal with the backlog of stranded passengers and mail.
The Congressman also announced that the US Department of Transportation has made available one and three quarter million US dollars to construct an aircraft rescue and fire fighting training facility at Pago Pago International Airport.
