Century Tours sues CPA over flight suspension in Aug.

Century Tours Inc. is suing the Commonwealth Ports Authority over the suspension of flights last Aug. 21 due to the unavailability of a fire and rescue truck, which stranded many tourists on Saipan.

According to the Century Tours, CPA’s negligence and carelessness cost the company $149,044 in expenses paid on behalf of the stranded tourists.

Century Tours wants the Superior Court to hold CPA liable to pay such damages, plus court costs.

Century Tours manages charter flights carrying Chinese tourists to and from China to Saipan.

According to Marianas Visitors Authority and airport officials, 1,600 passengers were stranded that weekend because of the incident. The airport returned to normal operations four days later, after CPA expedited the shipment of a steering gear box from a manufacturer out of Wisconsin.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations require commercial airports to be ready to respond to aircraft incidents and accidents, fires, and hazardous materials incidents. That includes having a working fire truck.

According to Century Tours counsel Steven P. Pixley in the complaint, CPA, through its executive director, notified Century Tours on Aug. 21 that one of its aircraft fire fighting and rescue trucks was not operational.

Pursuant to Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting regulations, this caused the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport to downgrade its index from Index D to Index C.

Index C means that only aircraft between 129 feet and no more than 159 feet in size are allowed to land.

Pixley said FAA has strict mandatory rules regarding the availability of fire and rescue trucks at commercial airports for emergencies. As a commercial operator, CPA was aware of these requirements, he said.

The unavailability of this truck and the downgrade of the airport to Index C caused the airport to temporarily stop the landing and takeoff of jets with a wingspan exceeding 159 feet.

This impacted Century Tours, as it manages charter flights operated by both Sichuan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. These two airlines primarily operate Airbus 330 aircraft, commonly known as “wide body” aircraft because the wingspans of these aircraft exceed 159 feet.

As a result of the airport downgrade, Pixley said, the Airbus 330 aircraft were unable to operate at the Saipan airport.

Because of the suspension of flights, Century Tours was forced to provide accommodations and feed its stranded tourists at various hotels on Saipan beginning Aug. 21, 2015, Pixley said.

Pixley said CPA owed a duty of care to ensure that these emergency vehicles were properly maintained for the continued operation of the airport and to ensure the safety of passengers.

“This duty of care extended to Century Tours and the stranded Chinese passengers,” he said.

He said CPA negligently failed to properly maintain the emergency truck, which was not operational because of the problems with its steering mechanism. He said CPA negligently failed to ensure that parts were reasonably available to maintain the truck.

“CPA should have made regular and frequent inspections of the ARFF equipment in the exercise of reasonable care to ensure that this equipment remained fully operational,” Pixley said.

Based upon information and belief, he said no such regular inspections were made and that CPA failed to fully comply with ARFF regulations.