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CUTE placed on airport’s back burner
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Posted on Jul 09 2005
A disputed plan to utilize common use terminal equipment at the Saipan International Airport was placed on the back burner amid the looming pullout of Japan Airlines.
Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Carlos Salas said CPA had put the project on hold in order to address the more pressing issue of JAL’s cessation of service to CNMI.
“We’re in a different plain now, with JAL’s pullout. We will figure out what to do with the CUTE when we get more flights to cover JAL,” said Salas.
CPA, he said, plans to focus on how to get airlines to increase flights, as well as to assist those that plan to begin new service to Saipan.
So far, only Northwest Airlines has announced a plan to fly the routes currently being serviced by JAL. Northwest will start new Saipan-Osaka flights on Oct. 1, the same day that JAL suspends all regularly scheduled flight operations from Tokyo and Osaka to the CNMI.
The CPA board of directors approved the utilization of the CUTE system on May 23, with an instruction to CPA management to phase the implementation to ensure minimum impact on the airlines’ operation.
The ports authority made the decision amid opposition from two carriers operating at the Saipan airport: Northwest and Asiana Airlines. Both airlines had raised concerns about the practicality of the project, citing investments they recently made in their separate terminal systems.
Northwest had also argued that there was no need to change the current system, as no additional airlines are set—or have announced intent—to upgrade their operations in the CNMI.
For its part, Asiana said the benefits from the new equipment did not justify the installation cost.
Currently, each airline has its own check-in counter and terminal gate. As a result, congestion occurs at one area each time there is a departing flight, while the rest of the facilities are left idle.
However, the common use terminal equipment will allow the staff of any airline to use their respective systems and access their data on any workstation throughout the airport whenever they need to serve passengers.
