The domestic airport of the French Pacific island of Futuna is to get a major facelift that could turn it into an international point of entry.
The upgrade involves an extension of the airstrip at a cost of nearly 10 million US dollars.
This has been announced in a letter by the French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to the territory's' member of the French lower house, Victor Brial.
The French approval follows a suggestion from Futuna whose residents felt too reliant on the international airport on neighbouring Wallis island.
In September, Wallis airport was seized by by pro-King sympathisers in a customary conflict that left the territory cut off.
