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Airline jets fly during daylight after storm damage
Airline jets continued to fly during daylight hours yesterday after Typhoon Soudelor brought down the Saipan International Airport’s navigational aids.
Asiana Airlines flew three regular flights yesterday after flying in two rescue jets on Wednesday.
The three flights departed Saipan at 7:30am, 8:06am, and 9:20am.
Asiana flew in two rescue flights on Wednesday—one rescue flight for passengers stranded on Aug. 3, and another for passengers delayed on Aug. 4.
They flew four flights total, on top of two regular flights.
Tourists with reservations and are not cancelling them are arriving on island, according to the local Asiana Airlines office.
More information from their general manager was requested through email but not yet obtained yesterday.
It’s unclear how the devastation of Typhoon Soudelor will impact the arrival of tourists.
Acting governor Ralph Torres has said he “expects a shortfall of tourists.”
Delta Air Lines—who flies tourists in from Japan—has been impacted.
Since Aug. 2—due to the weather and airport condition afterwards—Delta has so far cancelled seven round trips or 10 flights between Narita, Japan and Saipan, and adjusted schedule for some flights on Aug. 2, 3, and 4.
Two round trip flights were cancelled yesterday
Delta’s Ryoko Matsumoto said they used a bigger aircraft B747 on Wednesday and plan to do so today to accommodate impacted passengers.
The Commonwealth Ports Authority and Federal Aviation Administration technicians are repairing the navigational aids at the airport.
