Taga Air marks first regular nightly flight

A Taga Air flight to Saipan took off here Wednesday night to begin regular nightly charter services that would enhance traffic between the two islands.

Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino general manager Tom Liu said the services would help bring in guests to the hotel, as well as provide flight services to the island’s residents and visitors.

This developed as Tinian Express ferry services reduced traffic between Saipan and Tinian after one of its two vessels ran aground on a Tinian cliff line sometime last October. Since then, ferry services departing Saipan and Tinian went down from five trips to two daily.

The only functional ferry right now departs Tinian at 8am and 1pm daily; from Saipan, it departs for Tinian at 9:30am and 5pm. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, the ferry provides additional services; it departs Tinian at 1am and leaves Saipan at 3:30am.

Except Tuesdays, Taga Air’s nine six-seater planes would service Tinian and Saipan from 7:30pm to midnight. Taga Air’s first daily flight leaves Tinian at 7:30pm, while the first daily flight from Saipan takes off at 8pm. One-way ticket sells at $32 per person, while roundtrip airfare costs $64 per person.

Taga Air Charter Services, Inc. has invested some $1.5 million to provide flights services between Saipan and Tinian, according to Liu. Saipan Travel, Inc. charters the daily Taga Air flights, he added.

“To be on Tinian, you have to develop your own transportation,” Liu said.

Liu said the ferry that ran aground needs to be repaired. He said an assessment is being done on what to do with the vessel, which might be towed off-island for repair, since Tinian does not have a drydocking facility.

Liu said Tinian Dynasty and its affiliates have no plans to acquire a new ferry, which cost $6 million each in 1996. Even before the sea accident this year, Tinian Express had been losing approximately $3.5 million yearly, he said. “But we have no choice. How could people come here?”

While Liu lauded efforts of the Babauta administration to improve the CNMI’s tourism industry, he also lauded the incoming administration of governor-elect Benigno Fitial, who recently declared that the first thing he would do as the CNMI’s chief executive is to meet with business leaders so they could continue to do business on the islands.

“We like to sit down together with the new administration and set up an agenda to build up the economy,” Liu said.

Liu said there is a need to develop infrastructure and facilities to enhance tourism traffic into and within the CNMI.

Despite the recent pullout of Japan Airlines’ services to Saipan, however, Liu said the decline in Japanese visitors to the CNMI has had little impact on Tinian Dynasty.

He said the average number of Japanese guests at the hotel used to hover around 1,500 monthly; thus, a decline in Japanese visitors would have no significant impact on the 412-room hotel.

Last Wednesday, Liu said hotel occupancy reached 63 percent. In October, he said Tinian Dynasty’s occupancy did not rank least compared with those of Saipan hotels. Chinese tourists comprise the bulk of Tinian Dynasty’s guests.

Tinian Dynasty charters the China Southern Airlines for two flights weekly from Guangzhou. It partners with Century Tours in chartering two China Eastern Airlines flights weekly from Shanghai. The charters by TDHC and Century Tours bring in a total of four Chinese flights from China every week.

Tinian Dynasty also charters flights from Beijing during long Chinese holidays—the Chinese New Year, and the periods May 1-7 and Oct. 1-7.