Lack of flights scotches Cape Air meeting with Inos

A meeting between Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Cape Air executives scheduled this week was moved to a later date. And the reason behind the cancellation was a no-brainer: there were no flights.

The meeting was apparently hush-hush, amid the growing discontent with the services—or lack thereof—of Cape Air, the only airline currently servicing flights from Guam and the CNMI and vice versa.

“It was postponed. The reason is, there were no available flights,” press secretary Ivan Blanco said.

He said a meeting was supposed to take place this week but it was moved to a yet undisclosed date due to the unavailability of the flights.

The meeting was seen as an opportunity for Cape Air to clear the air on the continued delays of flights that has been going on for almost a week.

Some CNMI lawmakers are already planning separate moves to invite Cape Air over.

Rep. Francis S. Taimanao (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications, said he is scheduled to meet with his committee members to draft a formal letter to be sent to Cape Air.

“We will meet and discuss the letter, and then send it to Cape Air,” Taimanao said.

The lawmaker said he understands the growing concern over the continued delays, but he remains cautious. “It should not appear that we’re trying to chase them [Cape Air] away. We just want to know the reasons for the delay,” Taimanao said, stressing the importance of air safety for airlines passengers.

Cape Air earlier cited maintenance concerns as the primary reason for the flight delays.

“It is still a business and we know that the airplanes being used are expensive,” Taimanao said.

Other lawmakers, however, are more vocal in their criticism of the airline carrier.

“Enough is enough. Cape Air has continually failed the people of the CNMI. We need to stop directing our frustrations to Cape Air. They don’t care,” Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) said.

The lawmaker said he will “be calling for a public hearing to collect testimonials for United Airlines and will ask United representatives to attend.”

“And if no representative from United attends, then it will prove that United really does not care about the CNMI,” he said.

“This has become more than an inconvenience. This is hurting businesses, hurting our tourism industry, and putting our health and safety in jeopardy. We will gather these testimonials and will forward it to United as well as our U.S. Congressman Kilili Sablan.”

Propst said that Cape Air’s “broken planes and horrible service have got to go and we need to find another carrier to take over this route.”

Rep. Vinson Sablan (Ind-Saipan) shared that due to the delay, one of his staff remains stuck in Guam.

“One of my staff is still there, as there are no available flights,” Sablan said. “They don’t seem to care probably because there is no competition, and there’s no other airline available to serve passengers.”

As a temporary remedy, United Airlines provides an extra flight on a Boeing 737-800 to accommodate passengers. Cape Air and United are code-share partners.