MVA Korea: Saipan seat supply will drop 4% in May

The Korea office of the Marianas Visitors Authority forecasts a 4% drop in airplane seats to the CNMI this month of May.

MVA Korea representative Sei Jin, who joined the MVA board meeting last Tuesday via an online platform, reported that Saipan’s seat supply was 8,604 in April and that this number is expected to decrease to 8,257 in May, which is a 4% decline.

Jin attributes this expected decline in air seats to Korea budget carrier Jeju Air pulling out their Busan flights to the CNMI “because the load factor was very low.”

Comparatively, Saipan’s number of actual passengers was higher than Guam’s in April, with the actual number of CNMI passengers at 3,840 while Guam was at 2,223. However, Guam’s air seat supply is expected to be at 17,303 this month, which will be higher than Saipan’s due to Guam announcing an “airline subsidy of $100 per seat,” according to Jin’s report.

In addition, Guam has managed to increase their seat supply by more than double after it managed to add Jeju Air, T-Way Air, Air Seoul, Korean Air, and Air Busan to their airline market for the month of May, which is a 175% increase from April, Jin said. Additionally, along with more airlines, the frequency of their flights per week has increased as well.

Along with Guam, Hawaii has also increased their seat supply due to the flight frequency per week of Korean Air, Asiana, and Hawaiian Airlines, JIn added.

She said this is the current situation in the market right now and that “this is something we have to work on…increase our frequencies [of flights], meaning that we have to increase our demands with aggressive marketing activities.”

In line with that, Jin outlined what MVA Korea should do, which is to “position [CNMI] as a top preferred destination with the highest safety and authentic nature, increase flight frequencies for stabilized seat supply, and enhanced destination awareness through active marketing promotions.”

Jin also pointed out that, compared to Guam and Hawaii, Saipan is the only destination with isolation sites “provided free for five days” if a tourist tests positive.

She said that MVA Korea is trying to push the CNMI as “the first travel bubble destination which is approved by each government as the safest destination, the first destination providing free PCR tests, and the only destination providing five day isolation sites.”

Jin added that they are “using the power of safety” as a major selling point for the CNMI in South Korea, and that tourists can “travel to the CNMI with a peace of mind.”