Saipan runway back to its full operations

The Commonwealth Ports Authority said yesterday that they had already fixed the runway lighting at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport that encountered problems starting last Friday. The lights at runway 7/25, the Saipan airport’s main landing strip, was discovered not working at full capacity last Friday that caused flight cancellations and delays

CPA acting executive director Christopher S. Tenorio said all the lights at the said runway are up and running after noon yesterday. “The runway lighting, as of 1:30pm, are all working. Therefore, Notice to Airmen No. A0173/16 will be cancelled.”

“With that being said, the runway lights are back to its full operation. We apologize for the inconvenience during the outage and thank you for your patience.”

Tenorio said that they immediately asked the help of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. after finding out that the lights at runway 7/25, which was last renovated in 2009 after more than 25 years, has some problems.

Press secretary Ivan Blanco said that the administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres was finally relieved that the CPA finally fixed the problem. “CPA has informed us that the issue with the lights on the runway has been resolved.”

Hong Kong Airlines, the newest carrier that had been offering non-stop flights from Hong Kong to Saipan, were among those affected on what happened to the Saipan airport’s main runway. HK Air Saipan Station Airport Services supervisor May Joan Cabrera Boongaling said the inbound flight that was supposed to arrive at 12:30am, landed at 4pm yesterday.

“In a way we’re also affected. It’s a good thing that they immediately issued an advisory so we’re able to inform our headquarters in Hong Kong. We immediately relayed the problem to the head office and they immediately changed the flight schedule,” Boongalin told Saipan Tribune.

“We’re glad, not only Hong Kong Air, that they fixed the problem. Now the airport is back to its full operations. Hopefully, there won’t be problems like this in the future. Especially, since there are a number of airlines operating now on Saipan.”

HK Air flies twice a week from Chek Lap Kok International Airport to the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm (Hong Kong time), and Monday and Thursday at 12:30am (Saipan Time).

PAL Express and Jin Air are the latest carriers that began their operations to Saipan in the last two months. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Asiana Airlines, and Jeju Airlines are the other airlines that offer flights to Saipan.