Asiana cancels 3 flights

A rapid shift from high to low travel demand from South Korea has prompted Asiana Airlines to cancel its three additional weekly flights to Saipan after just about a week of operations.

Within a one-week period, the total seat capacity of three Airbus 321 reached only 531, incurring an extremely low load factor at levels below 30 percent. A load factor below 30 percent means that less than 159 passengers boarded the three additional flights that Asiana began on Dec. 23, 2005 and ceased in January 2006.

Originally, Asiana had planned on operating the additional flights until March 1, with the company’s Saipan general manager Kwang Joong Kim citing high travel demand from Korea in early December 2005.

“We want to put additional flights but travel demand is so low,” Kim said via telephone yesterday. “We have no choice but to cancel [the additional flights].”

Even Asiana’s regular flights had a total passenger turnout that was lower than projected for January 2006, according to Kim.

Although the actual tally of inbound passengers in January was not immediately available, Kim disclosed that the average load factor of the regular flights last month reached only 82 percent, lower than projections of 90 percent or over. This load factor translates to approximately 7,880 inbound passengers.

Kim added that travel demand from Korea this February does not appear to be rosy, disclosing that the daily load factors vary from approximately 60 to 70 percent, except on Feb. 9 and 10.

Asiana continues to service Saipan with seven flights weekly via Boeing 777 aircraft, which has a seat capacity of 310. The cessation of the additional flights lowered the total seat capacity from Seoul from nearly 11,000 monthly to less than 9,000.

“If there is demand, we will revive [the additional flights] anytime,” Kim said, pointing out that the problem stemmed from the demand factor, not the supply of passengers.

The declining travel demand from Korea, the CNMI’s second biggest tourism market, comes on the heels of the pullout of Japan Airline’s regular flights to Saipan, pulling down total visitor arrivals due to significant reduction in the number of Japanese tourists, the islands’ premier market.

Local industry players fear that Japanese arrivals to the CNMI will plunge by more than 100,000 in a year if JAL or any other airline does not revive air service between Japan and Saipan.

Asiana had set an aggressive goal of achieving a 25-percent growth in passenger totals in 2006. Asiana’s Kim earlier disclosed the target at over 100,000 passengers—a significant leap from the annual figures hovering around 75,000.

Kim earlier said the airline company would tap the English language market in Korea, as many Korean travelers go the to Asian countries such as the Philippines to study the English language. Kim said Asiana would also tap the sports event market in Korea by promoting local events such as triathlon, marathon, and many others.

In December 2005, Kim attributed the Korean market’s strong performance to high travel demand, which include those who come to the islands to play golf. Asiana has also begun tapping the Russian, Chinese and Japanese markets through flights via Seoul.