Asiana joins opposition to CUTE

Northwest Airlines has found an ally in its opposition to the proposed utilization of common use terminal equipment at the Saipan International Airport.

Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Carlos said in a recent interview that Asiana Airlines, which had initially kept mum regarding its position on the proposal, has expressed its objection to the plan to make the utilization of the new terminal system mandatory for carriers.

“Asiana has written us a letter and raised basically the same issues as Northwest had,” Salas said, but he did not elaborate.

Asiana-Saipan sales supervisor Jung Ah Kim also refused to provide details, saying the airline’s position on the new terminal system is an issue that the airline wished to keep between CPA and itself.

Richard Parsons, Northwest Airlines manager for Guam and Saipan, reiterated on Wednesday that CPA’s proposal was not practical at the present time. He said there was simply no need to change the current system, given that no additional airlines have arrived or have announced intent to upgrade their operations in the CNMI.

“There will come a time when CUTE makes sense. We just don’t think that time has come yet. The right time will depend upon expansion of service by other carriers coming in to the market,” Parsons said. “There’s always people expressing an interest. Saipan is a wonderful place. But expressing interest and committing to putting flights in are different situation.”

He also maintained that implementing the new system right now would cost the carriers a significant amount of money, especially those airlines such as Northwest which have already invested on their own system.

Still, he said the CUTE system would be more practical than building a bigger terminal or more counter space.

“So if your choice is to build a bigger terminal or to make all the counter spaces common use, common use makes sense. We are not looking at expanding the terminal today. Therefore cute does not make sense,” he said.

Last February, the CPA board of directors adopted a proposed amendment to airport rules and regulations that would require all carriers operating flights from the Saipan airport to execute a memorandum of agreement binding them to participate in the common use terminal program.

The agreement would also require the airlines to pay its calculated share of the expense for the use of the terminal equipment.

“Failure to execute said memorandum of agreement and comply with its terms and conditions shall be grounds for eviction from the Saipan International Airport and the denial of the right to use airport facilities,” read a portion of the draft amendment.