Air Nauru seeks OK to fly to Saipan • Move aimed at boosting air service to Micronesian region amid declining flights by airlines

In a move to fast track the establishment of a regional airline, an official of the Republic of Palau has asked Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and key members of the CNMI Legislature to begin talks immediately on the proposal of Air Nauru to extend its service to Saipan, Palau and Manila.

Sen. Santos Olikong, chair of the Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Affairs of Palau National Congress, put forward the proposal to hold discussions in a letter sent recently to the governor, Senate President Paul A. Manglona and House Speaker Diego T. Benavente.

Olikong said the meeting hopes to bring officials from the Commonwealth, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of Nauru, as well as executives from Air Nauru into the discussion table to hasten the implementation of the proposed regional airline.

CNMI officials have been exploring ways on how they can discuss with Micronesian leaders the possibility of setting up a regional airline amid the continuous reduction in service by Continental Micronesia, the main air carrier in the region.

The establishment of a regional airline is one of the key issues to be discussed in the annual membership meeting of the Asia Pacific Island Legislators to be held in Guam next month.

Representatives from Palau, Nauru and Air Nauru Corp. met in Guam last April 8 to talk about ways on how to extend better and more affordable air passenger and cargo service to Micronesian nations especially in the light of Continental Micronesia’s highly unaffordable tariffs.

During that meeting, the representative of the President of Nauru and the chairman of Air Nauru Corp. expressed strong interest in participating in the proposed creation of a regional airline.

“We are hopeful you will share our belief that establishing new Air Nauru service directly linking Saipan, Palau and the Philippines, for example, would greatly benefit our people and our commerce,” Olikong said.

While the ultimate decision of extending Air Nauru service to the CNMI still rests on the federal government, he said it is necessary that Commonwealth officials give its nod first before approaching US authorities.

If the CNMI laws impose certain requirements other than those demanded by the US Department of Transportation, Olikong said the officials who would be attending the meeting would like to be informed about this. When Air Nauru files an application with the US Department of Transportation to service the CNMI, Olikong said he is hoping that the Northern Marianas officials would endorse such plan.

Tourism officials are hoping the regional airline would boost traffic in the Northern Marianas and save the sagging tourism economy which has been battered by the Asian financial crisis.