Jin Air targets families, honeymooners

Jin Air’s Boeing 737 plane taxis along the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport runway after arriving on its inaugural flight from Incheon Airport in South Korea. (Jon Perez)

A gray and lime green Boeing 737, with a butterfly as its logo, taxied at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport runway at around 12:50pm yesterday carrying 180 tourists and flight crew.

Korean low cost carrier Jin Air made its inaugural flight to Saipan with its management hoping to plane in families and honeymooners who want to experience what the CNMI offers. The flight, which had a six-member jeans-clad crew, was originally scheduled to arrive at 1:10pm.

The plane also left Saipan yesterday with a separate flight crew flying back to Incheon at around 6pm. The crew that flew to Saipan stayed at the Kanoa Resort.

Jin Air Saipan Regional Office manager Hong Gyu “Ben” Hur said they offer Korean families, newlyweds, and young tourists low cost daily direct flights at 7:30am from Incheon to Saipan.

“We want families and honeymooners to fly direct from Korea to Saipan. These are small groups of people who wanted to see the sites and experience what Saipan has to offer,” said Hur minutes after emerging from the Saipan International Airport’s Customs and Immigration checkpoints.

“Saipan has natural beauty especially the color of the sky and water. It is great for site-seeing and visiting historical sites. The island has recovered quickly after Typhoon Soudelor,” added Hur when interviewed by the local media that attended yesterday’s event.

Kanoa Resort operations director Glenn Policare said the local community has always been excited to welcome new tourists on the island.

“We’re always excited to see new guests. The flight crew will be staying at Kanoa where a welcome reception will be held at Nami Bar,” said Policare. “We expect the number of Korean tourists to further increase once Kensington Hotel opens on July 21.”

The Korean tourists, mostly families with their young kids, are spread out in different hotels like the Pacific Islands Club, Fiesta Resort & Spa, and Saipan World Resort.

Jin Air’s roundtrip ticket for its inaugural flight was $300 and it will be $400, which is still affordable. All prices would also depend on the season.

“Saipan is a good tourist destination especially for site seeing. We’re trying to get more Korean tourists to get here with our daily flights,” said Hur.

Asked why the crew wore jeans as their uniform, Hur said that it was the regular apparel of young people and at the same time comfortable for their flight staff. Jin Air also flies to Guam, Honolulu, and Southeast Asian countries.