CPA’s hand in economic dev’t lauded

The Strategic Economic Development Council has commended the Commonwealth Ports Authority’s efforts in cutting back airport charges which strengthened the CNMI’s competitiveness as a prime tourist destination.

Bob Jones, chairman of the SEDC committee on air service initiative, said CPA’s earlier decision to rollback charges at the Saipan International Airport makes it easier to sell the CNMI as a destination to airline companies.

“We were looking for major factors that would make existing airlines to continue servicing the islands and entice new carriers to come in. CPA’s decision is a great contribution to the overall efforts,” said Mr. Jones.

He mentioned the Airline Incentive Program implemented by the ports authority as part of its contribution to revitalize CNMI’s tourism industry by encouraging carriers to increase traffic haul to the islands.

The Airline Incentive Program grants CNMI signatory airlines 50 percent off on landing and departure fees. Because of this, total number of passenger arrivals at the Saipan International Airport soared 30 percent , from 33,093 in April 1999 to 42,999 this year.

From the beginning of the Fiscal Year 2000 up until April, CPA records showed the number of international passengers arriving at and leaving Saipan’s air transport facility exceeded the level registered during the previous fiscal year.

In a presentation before Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, legislators and other administration officials yesterday, Mr. Jones said CPA’s move in cutting back airport charges should work to the advantage of plans to increase visitor arrivals to the CNMI in the coming years.

He said SEDC has laid out concrete plans to increase arrival figures to 810,000 passengers by the year 2005 which could not be possible without the ports authority’s assistance in pulling down airport charges.

Quoting figures from the Marianas Visitors Authority, he noted that the number of arriving passengers on Saipan dropped from 800,000 in 1996 to only 500,000 in 1999. The figure climbed modestly to 526,000 this year.

Mr. Jones said SEDC’s Air Service Committee is aggressively working to encourage more nonstop air transport services between the Northern Marianas and key cities in major Asian countries, with initial moves focused at negotiating with CNMI signatory carriers.

He added that future efforts include discussions with other airline companies, particularly regional carriers that have previously expressed intentions to provide air transport services between Asian cities and the Northern Marianas.

The SEDC is also recommending that the government provide additional marketing appropriations to support the promotion of new routes that are currently being looked at by major airline companies.

This should be apart from the 50 percent discount in airport charges offered by the ports authority as an incentive to airline companies that are serving new routes from major cities in Asia to the CNMI.

Mr. Jones said there is a need to provide an additional $700,000 funding for Marianas Visitors Authority’s marketing budget in order to finance promotional activities for new routes such as Osaka and Nagoya in Japan.