Mood gives Korean Air a lift

Korean Air will begin providing service to Saipan before the end of the year as the economic situation in Korea has shown great improvement, according to Yang Ho Cho, the airline’s president and chief executive officer.

Yang met with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and Marianas Visitors Authority board chairman Dave M. Sablan Sunday evening. The governor has asked the Korean Air president to visit the CNMI again and for the airline to resume its Seoul-Saipan direct flight.

While Yang did not exactly say when the airline will come back, Han Jin Travel, a subsidiary of Korean Air, managing vice president S. W. Park said charter flights may begin toward the end of June or early month of July.

The airline president’s visit was a result of an earlier invitation made by Sablan when he met with Korean Air vice president in February in Seoul last Feb. 4-7 where MVA officials attended the wedding exhibition.

Since last year, MVA has been trying to persuade Korean Air to resume service to Saipan after visitor arrivals from Korea started showing some signs of recovery in December 1998. Korea used to be Saipan’s biggest tourism market.

Korean Air has been providing service to Saipan for 14 years until it suspended operations due to the tragic crash on Guam where 230 people were killed. Korean Air used to ferry an average of 12,000 passengers to the CNMI.

Due to the increase in outbound travel from Korea, Asiana Airlines has begun providing direct Seoul-Saipan service using a B767 six times a week on April 2. Currently, Asiana’s daily B 767 flight with 260 seats is shared by Guam and Saipan. However, on July 21, 1999, Asiana will begin providing daily flights to Saipan.

The island’s tourism economy has greatly suffered due to the decline in visitor arrivals brought about by Asia’s financial crisis. While the worst of Asia’s financial crisis appears over, there’s still plenty of pain going around as some economies remain mired in recession, millions of people are still without work and already-low wages are lower.

South Korea, forced to seek a $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, is considered the best prospect for recovery from the crisis.

South Korea has been reforming its bloated conglomerates called chaebol, to further stabilize its economy. When the economy slowed in 1997, about a dozen conglomerates collapsed under their debt load, leaving banks with mounds of non-performing loans that caused a sudden loss of confidence and triggered a flight of foreign capital.