Regional airline pushed • CNMI lobbies for support from key APPU members for unified air service in the region

Legislators from the Northern Marianas and Palau have asked support from the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union to push a proposed regional airline for small islands largely affected by the downsizing of existing commercial carriers.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, who chairs the group’s council meeting being held here, made a strong pitch yesterday for the plan in hopes to sway to its favor powerful member countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Noting that air travel is the only means to gather members of the legislative organization in one site, the CNMI senator said most countries belonging to APPU are heavily dependent on tourism industry as their economic backbone.

He urged APPU delegates to explore the possibility of creating the regional airline and help formulate strategies that will improve air service to group members in dire need of additional carrier.

“This may be applied to areas in Asia, the Pacific or a combination of the two,” Reyes told in his opening statement on the second day of the meeting being held at the Hyatt Regency.

“By working together we can identify incentives which may attract major or regional airlines within our Union that will be of mutual benefit to all groups involved,” he said.

A resolution endorsing the proposal had been offered jointly by lawmakers from the CNMI and Palau to the regional body during the three-day meeting, but APPU members are likely to adopt the measure when they hold their general assembly later this year.

Both Micronesian islands underscored the need to involve larger Asian-Pacific nations in their attempt to set up a regional carrier as the move would entice airline industry professionals into assisting them in drawing up the proposal.

According to the resolution, APPU will endorse the concept and development of the airline to help improve air service to countries or islands which have suffered from exhorbitant airfares and inadequate seating capacities.

Since member countries have the necessary resources available in each government to work toward formulating strategies, CNMI and Palau believed this is the proper forum to map out the plan.

These “resources and incentives will be incorporated into a comprehensive package that will be utilized to attract private regional airline investors or to be implemented and initially financed by member nations of the APPU, but managed by an experienced and professional aviation company.”

The resolution also said a feasibility study will be conducted to determine if such resources would allow a regional carrier, which is envisioned to provide short-haul scheduled passenger and freight service connecting small islands with larger cities.

APPU is the second regional body approached by CNMI leaders for support on their quest to establish the proposed unified air service, which came on the heels of continued flight cutback by Continental Micronesia.

More than 55 lawmakers are attending the conference, including delegates from Kiribati, Taiwan R.O.C., Nauru, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Palau, Tuvalu, Malaysia, Marshalls and FSM, the Philippines, Guam, Fiji, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Laos, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

Reyes and other local legislators have been active in seeking help of other Micronesian governments on the plan, elevating the matter to the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (APIL) to drum up more support.

The proposal is expected to be one of the major issues when lawmakers from the CNMI, Guam, FSM, American Samoa, Palau and Marshalls, which formed APIL, hold its general meeting later this week on Guam.

Continental, which has been servicing the Western Pacific islands for more than two decades, has cut back its air service from key cities in Asia due to the region-wide financial turmoil that has shrunk passenger traffic.

The decision has angered local officials as well as other Micronesian leaders worried over further drop in tourist arrivals from Japan and Korea, Guam and NMI’s major markets.