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CPA backs Eco Airlines plan
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Posted on Jan 23 2005
The Commonwealth Ports Authority reiterated its support for a start-up, Australian-based airline seeking to operate flights between Brisbane and Saipan.
CPA executive director Carlos Salas said the ports authority continues to back Eco Airlines’ application with the U.S. Department of Transportation to fly to Saipan from Brisbane.
Salas said that CPA has sent the federal government a letter expressing its support for the carrier, and so has Gov. Juan N. Babauta.
“We encourage their effort to open a new route between Saipan and Australia, although it’s up to them to continue to push their application. We’re very hopeful that this goes through,” Salas said.
Eco Airlines announced last week that it will commence air services from Brisbane to the Central Pacific next month. However, the airline cannot proceed with the planned stopover on Saipan, as the carrier has yet to secure the approval of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Eco Airlines chief executive officer Rex Banks said the airline plans to extend the first service to Saipan as soon as it receives U.S. DOT’s approval.
Banks said he will also ask Babauta for help with the airline’s application.
Starting February, the carrier will be providing the services, initially, on a weekly, unscheduled charter basis and will be operating two routes.
The first service will take passengers from Brisbane to Pohnpei, with a stopover in Honiara. The second will fly from Brisbane to Tarawa, the main atoll of Kiribati and onto Majuro in the Marshall Islands before returning to Brisbane.
Eco Airlines holds a foreign air operators certificate from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The carrier also has leased Russian Yakovlev Yak 42D aircraft from a Russian carrier, Karat Air, to service its flights. The aircraft has been configured to accommodate 60 passengers and 10 tons of cargo. (Agnes E. Donato)
