Mandarin Air cancels last trip

It would have been the carrier’s last trip before it takes a three-month leave from the Saipan-Taipei route but it is not coming at all.

Mandarin Airlines has canceled its Saipan-Taipei flight scheduled on Friday on grounds that the number of passenger is not enough to justify the operation.

The carrier will started temporarily suspending its direct Saipan-Taipei air transport services on March 24 but officials decided to forego the Friday flight to prevent further losses.

Mandarin Air Saipan Station Manager Charlie Ling disclosed the scheduled Friday flight would have been dispatched out of Taipei literally empty, and take off from Saipan with only 30 passengers.

Until late yesterday afternoon, Mandarin Air was re-issuing tickets to staff group earlier listed in the manifest. The passengers were instead booked to Continental Airlines and China Air.

“We are working on ticketing issues, and lots of Taiwan-bound passengers will be transferred to either Continental or China Air. We decided not to recruit any more passengers since it will be the last scheduled flight,” said Mr. Ling.

This week, aircraft used by Mandarin Air will be flying out of Saipan to undergo maintenance operations in line with the Federal Aviation Administration directive on ETOPS.

FAA regulations require carriers to be on top of its maintenance operations and ETOPS upgrading will commence this month through May, Mr. Ling explained.

Once the upgrading is completed, Mandarin Air will be able to service Saipan-Taipei route using its own fleet. Flights right now are serviced by its parent company, China Air.

Mandarin Air suspended flights to the Northern Mariana Islands due to continued revenue losses since November 2000 after the termination of charter agreement with Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

Since November last year, Mandarin Air incurred $12,000 losses per roundtrip flight on its operational costs, not to mention the continued decline in passenger haul.

The suspension was immediately decided upon to take effect from March 24 to June this year to prevent an estimated $20,000 per roundtrip flight revenue loss.

During the suspension, CNMI is projected to lose an estimated 30 flights and over 4,300 passengers.

In January this year, Mandarin Air enplaned 822 passengers and deplaned 708 while February pegged an enplanement of 886 and deplanement of 872. Records disclosed an estimated 62 percent and 65 percent passenger load for the last two months.

Mandarin Air officials decided to suspend operations starting March to June, believed to be the leanest and slowest season for tourism industry.

However, Mr. Ling assured that the suspension is only temporary to prevent aggravated revenue losses and flights will resume after maintenance operations during summer vacation. (EGA)