CPA to air concerns in U.S.-Japan open skies talks

The Commonwealth Ports Authority is expected to express its frustrations over limited nonstop air transport services to and from the islands when the United States and Japanese governments convene in Tokyo for the bilateral talks on open skies agreement.

This was learned from CPA Board Chair Roman S. Palacios who will head the Commonwealth’s four-man delegation to the discussion on open skies agreement between the U.S. and Japan middle of November.

In an interview, Mr. Palacios said four representatives from the ports authority will be sent to Tokyo, Japan to dialogue with aviation officials from both U.S. and Japanese governments and airline companies on November 15-19, 2000.

“We just would like to make sure that our concerns on the apparent lack of air transport services in the Northern Marianas is made known to both the federal and Japanese governments. This discussion is an opportune time for us to air our concerns,” he said.

Mr. Palacios is traveling to Tokyo, Japan with Aviation Task Force Chair JM Guerrero, CPA Board aviation committee chair Roman Tudela and CPA legal counsel Jose Dela Cruz for the scheduled open skies discussion.

He said CPA is participating in the talks to renew the Commonwealth government’s efforts in improving Saipan’s access to Japan, which is consistently the largest market for the Northern Marianas tourism industry.

CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas earlier sought the assistance of Airports Council International-North America on how the agency can actively and effectively participate in the consultation meetings slated this month in Tokyo, Japan.

CPA aims to meet delegations from both the U.S. and Japanese governments as well as airline executives who are involved in the open skies agreement discussions and attend scheduled briefings.

The ports authority is hoping to learn more about the process and to be able to make it known that Saipan is working double time to improve its access to Japan, said Mr. Salas.

CPA is also anticipating a three-member delegation from the Northern Marianas hotel industry will participate to the November 15 open skies agreement talks in Japan.

CPA has brought the islands’ air transport woes to the attention of the ACI-NA, as it asked the Council’s help in CNMI efforts to rebuild the islands’ struggling tourism industry, which currently thirsts for additional nonstop international flights.

CPA also wants the U.S. Government and Japanese aviation officials to include Saipan in the list of destinations for the second, short runway at the Narita Airport in Japan.

Japan’s estimate of departing-flight distance for Narita Airport’s Runway B is 1,500 miles which include Guam, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai. The list does not include Hong Kong as well.

ACI-NA has asked CPA and the CNMI government to start approaching carriers about serving the Northern Marianas, in light of new capacity being created at Narita Airport.