CPA wants another Taiwanese airline firm to serve Saipan too

The Commonwealth Ports Authority is aggressively lobbying for the inclusion of Saipan in the list of American destinations that will be served by the Taiwan-based Far Eastern Air Transport Corporation under its recent application to the United States Department of Transportation.

Board Chair Roman S. Palacios said CPA would back the carrier’s application to the US-DOT which would enable the airline company to engage in scheduled and charter air transport services between the Asian island-nation and several destinations in the U.S.

According to Mr. Palacios, the carrier is seeking the reinstatement of its exemption authority under the Open Skies Agreement sealed between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.

Far Eastern’s exemption two-year authority to conduct scheduled foreign air transportation from points in Taiwan to the U.S. expired last Sept. 10, 2000.

Under its application for reinstatement of the exemption authority to the U.S. transportation Department, Far Eastern said it anticipates to commence Taipei/Kaohsiung-Guam service early this year.

The airline company made it clear that it has not been conducting air transport services to any American destination in compliance with the expiration of its DOT-granted exemption authority in September last year.

The carrier’s application also reads that it will not resume operations between Taiwan and the U.S. until its exemption authority is reinstated.

It added that Far Eastern has not finalized its plan for the deployment of flights between Taiwan and the U.S. Territory of Guam due to the expiration of its exemption authority a few months back.

But Mr. Palacios said CPA would ask Far Eastern and the U.S. transportation department to include Saipan in the destinations which the carrier wishes to serve once its exemption authority is reinstated.

Far Eastern, which was founded in 1957, is Taiwan’s largest domestic carrier with a 16-jet fleet and over 1,500 employees. It began serving the Taipei-Kaohsiung route in 1962, added two more routes in 1970 and now serves more than 10 domestic routes.

The carrier started international charter operations in 1995, first to Palau and then to Subic Bay Freeport in the Philippines. The airline company continues to grow, expanding both its geographical reach and its customer base.

Far Eastern, which has total stocks of more than 255 million shares, carried 4.9 million passengers in 1999.

The airline company initially expressed willingness to provide direct international flights from major Asian cities to Tinian, a move expected to salvage the crumbling Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

FAT proposed to use Boeing 757 aircraft which, aside from B727, is the only bigger airplane model that can be accommodated by the existing runway of the West Tinian International Airport.