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Continental : Wait-and-see on JAL
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Posted on Jul 08 2005
Continental Micronesia is taking a wait-and-see attitude on calls for airlines to increase flights amid the impending pullout of Japan Airlines.
Wally Dias, Continental staff vice president for sales and marketing, said the air carrier had no plans at this time to operate flights between Saipan and Japan.
The route will be losing about 100,000 seats as a result of JAL’s decision to suspend flights to Saipan beginning October.
Dias noted that passenger demand from the Japan market had yet to recover from the year 2000 levels. “The airfares are still below their peak from Japan to Micronesia. The price of fuel is also impacting that type of decision,” he added.
Still, Dias said Continental would continue to aggressively market the CNMI in Japan through its Guam hub.
Earlier, Northwest Airlines announced that it would operate daily service between Saipan and Osaka starting Oct. 1.
The new flight will pick up 43 percent of the passenger traffic to be left by JAL’s pullout. JAL currently operates daily service to Saipan from Tokyo and Osaka, bringing in an average of 155,865 tourists to the CNMI a year.
The new service will be operated with the airline’s Boeing 757-200, with 20 seats in business class and 162 seats in coach class.
It will qualify Northwest for a 50-percent discount on airport fees offered by the Commonwealth Ports Authority to any airline that establishes a new or additional direct flight to the islands from an international market or airport outside of a U.S. jurisdiction.
In related news, Dias expressed satisfaction with the ongoing Bisita Marianas campaign jointly sponsored by the Marianas Visitors Authority and the Guam Visitors Bureau with some advertising funds from Continental.
The campaign is aimed at encouraging residents and tourists to travel more between the Northern Marianas and Guam.
Dias said the program “seems to be working,” citing recent GVB statistics reflecting increased tourist arrivals to Guam from the CNMI.
“I haven’t seen the MVA statistics yet, but I believe [Guam arrivals to the CNMI] were up for the month of June,” he said.
