CPA to review flight schedules

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres sits in with Commonwealth Ports Authority board members to discuss airport matters. (Erwin Encinares)

The Commonwealth Ports Authority board said it will review the logjam in flight schedules currently besetting the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport that has resulted in long immigration wait lines, which in turn has spelled trouble to the CNMI’s burgeoning tourism industry.

The long wait lines at airport Customs was the hot button issue discussed during yesterday’s CPA board meeting attended by no less than Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.

Torres told the CPA board that in order for the CNMI to continue enjoying the influx of Chinese tourists, “[the CNMI] needs all the airlines to make sure they do their [part] otherwise all of us are going to lose.”

This include the airlines following a schedule spreading out the flights throughout the day so as not to leave the Customs and Border Patrol area or any other area of the airport congested.

The board agreed and decided that CPA executive director Chris Tenorio should propose a draft for the new schedule of the flights to be submitted next week.

“There should at least be 40 to 45 minutes apart between arrivals. That, in my opinion, would address the problem,” CPA airport committee chair and board member Barrie Toves told Saipan Tribune.

“I’m happy that the governor agrees with us about the reinforcement of a flight schedule.”

According to Toves, a flight schedule shall be implemented to help alleviate the long CBP lines. Toves said the airlines “had no choice” but to follow the schedule because the long immigration lines brought about by many factors—including the lack of proper flight scheduling—is “detrimental to our reputation as a host country and a tourist destination.”

“Somewhere down the line, we have to set our foot in the sand,” said Toves.

“It’s a policy matter that is needed to address the immigration lines.”

The board expects Tenorio to submit drafts for the scheduling of the flights as well as a letter to inform the airlines of the news since—according to some of the board members—the matter is a “sensitive issue.”

In a letter dated March 12, 2017, Torres gave his recommendations to the Commonwealth Ports Authority board in an attempt to address ongoing issues and was further discussed during yesterday’s board meeting that was attended by the governor.

Torres urges CPA to consider separating passengers into lines associated with their means of entry to the CNMI. Torres wrote in the letter that lines to separate passengers entering through U.S/ citizenship, visa waiver, working visa, Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA, and so on from the discretionary parole of Chinese nationals may help lessen the prolonged wait times of passengers.

Torres also mentioned in his letter that revisiting the timeslots provided to arriving airlines with the flight coming after it in mind is necessary to “provide each flight additional time to process their passengers through CBP and CNMI Customs inspection” even if it costs a few cancelled flights.

“I encourage CPA to develop a schedule of arrivals that allows for the reasonable spacing of incoming flights and be willing to cancel flights that are unable to operate within the standards set by the [CPA] board and CPA [management].”

According to Torres’ letter, flights are scheduled with five-minute windows in between.

“Increasing the intervals in which flights arrive will limit line length and the time it would take for the passenger to undergo border processing,” wrote Torres.