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Taga Air temporarily stops, to resume soon
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Posted on Dec 21 2005
TINIAN—Taga Air has temporarily stopped its nightly Saipan-Tinian flights due to some problems with contract agreements, according to Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino general manager Tom Liu.
He said, though, that the air service will resume within the month.
“[Taga Air] will continue operations. There’s just some fine-tuning [in the agreement],” said Liu.
He did not elaborate.
Saipan Travel, Inc., a business affiliate of Tinian Dynasty, charters the daily Taga Air flights.
Liu said that when it resumes operations, Taga Air would be flying from 7pm to 12 midnight to and from two islands.
The air carrier would complement Freedom Air’s mostly daytime operations.
Freedom Air’s last flight is at 620pm.
“Taga Air is very good for the night travelers. It also benefits a lot island commuters who want to go back, say to Saipan, on the same day,” said Liu.
Based on the initial schedule, Taga Air’s first daily flight leaves Tinian at 7:30pm, while the first daily flight from Saipan takes off at 8pm.
Taga Air Charter Services, Inc. has invested some $1.5 million to provide flights services between Saipan and Tinian, according to Liu. “To be on Tinian, you have to develop your own transportation,” Liu said earlier.
Taga Air, which reportedly has nine six-seater planes, launched its Tinian flight on Nov. 23, a development seen as a big boost to Tinian’s tourism, which has been adversely affected by reduced ferry services.
Tinian Express ferry services reduced traffic between Saipan and Tinian after one of its two vessels ran aground on a Tinian cliff line in October this year.
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 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.
