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Nagoya to Saipan route to open
MVA assures: No need to panic about Delta decision
A new airline is looking at opening a new route between Nagoya, Japan and Saipan in the coming months, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority, even before Delta Air Lines’ announcement of its pending pullout of its Narita-Saipan route on May 6.
According to MVA managing director Chris Concepcion, an airline has expressed interest in servicing the Nagoya-Saipan route.
“We are currently in negotiations with them and that is something that we can get a route and agreement so they can work on their approval and can formally make an announcement in the next few months,” he said.
“The Japan market is too valuable for us to lose sight of, so we will not. We are not cutting back on any promotion for the Japan market. MVA will continue forward with our plans,” he added.
Despite Delta’s exit from the CNMI, Concepcion said the CNMI will be fine in the long term.
“There will be other airlines that will take up the route. The route has been served over 40 years and so we think the potential is there to open additional airlift that will build up our arrivals from Japan for the future,” he said.
“We want to reassure the community that MVA is working really hard to ensure that we maintain service on this route between Narita and Saipan. We don’t want panic to control us, especially the businesses that are involved with the Japan market,” he added.
