Flag carrier in the works

Following the pullout of Japan Airlines’ regular flight to Saipan, a new company that may become the CNMI’s flag carrier plans to introduce flights services between Saipan and Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea.

Air Saipan Ltd. also plans to tap other markets, including Australia and Hong Kong.

Newly installed Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Lee Cabrera made the disclosure yesterday, confirming reports that a new carrier may soon pick up the number of travelers coming to the islands.

Cabrera confirmed that Air Saipan chair and founder Dean Mills has been communicating with the CPA about flight services to Saipan.

“We’re prepared to receive details of their flight plans,” the CPA executive director said. Cabrera refused to divulge other details as of press time.

The Saipan Tribune attempted but couldn’t reach Mills’ Guam offices by telephone yesterday.

The possibility of having a new air carrier serving Saipan and its tourist markets came about amid declining visitor arrivals to the CNMI following JAL’s pullout of regular flights to the CNMI in October 2005.

In November, the significant drop in Japanese arrivals to the CNMI resulted in an overall decline in the Commonwealth’s tourism industry.

With only 21,893 Japanese visiting the islands in November, total tourist arrivals for the month reached only 35,267, declining by 19.65 percent—or 8,623 tourists—from November 2004’s 43,890. Japanese tourists, the CNMI’s top market, totaled 30,454 in November 2004 and dived by 28 percent this year.

Local tourism industry players have expressed concern that JAL’s pullout would result in a loss of nearly a third of the CNMI’s Japanese market, which is equivalent to over a hundred thousand Japanese tourists yearly, even as Northwest Airlines added one flight daily from Osaka, Japan. Northwest now provides 21 flights weekly from Japan—one flight daily each from Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya.

Asiana Airlines also disclosed recently that it has begun bringing in tourists from four other Japanese cities—Sendai, Fukushima, Toyama, and Kumamoto—since early December. Japanese visitors come to Saipan via Asiana flights to Seoul.

“Travelers from those Japanese cities had to transfer to Osaka or Narita [Tokyo] to come to the CNMI [via the terminated JAL flights],” said Asiana’s general manager for Saipan, Kwang Joong Kim. “They can come here via Inchon airport at lower fares. They can enjoy shopping in Korea and traveling to the CNMI. They can enjoy both destinations.”

However, Kim said Asiana’s target visitors from Japan in 2006 is only about 3,000, but added that the company wants to take part in filling in the number of tourists lost due JAL’s pullout.