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Legislator praises CPA incentives plan
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Posted on Apr 19 1999
The chair of the House Commerce and Tourism Committee hailed a plan by the Commonwealth Ports Authority to grant incentives to all airlines in an attempt to stimulate traffic and revive the faltering tourism economy as he urged the government to step up its campaign to entice visitors.
Rep. Oscar M. Babauta said it is a timely move to lower landing fees and passenger facility charge for existing airlines, allowing international carriers to maintain its direct flights to Saipan, while increasing their seating capacity.
He also welcomed Korean Air’s decision to resume its flights from Seoul to the island after nearly two of years of absence following the collapse of their country’s economy and the crash of one of its jets in Guam in 1997.
“I hope all these actions will improve the number of tourist arrivals in the CNMI which we need right now to get us out of the economic crisis we are experiencing right now,” Babauta told in an interview.
According to the legislator, the island government must provide an incentive package to lure airlines, noting that Continental Micronesia has not lived up to its commitment to link the region with key Asian cities.
The Northern Marianas is reeling from the impact of the recession in Asia, its main source of tourists, which has pulled down the number of tourists here for the past two years.
Although the private sector and the Marianas Visitors Authority has intensified promotion of the destination in Japan, its main market, Babauta said the campaign should be linked with the airline proposal to broaden the local efforts.
He asked CPA to work as soon as possible on the incentive package so that the carriers will not downgrade its flight service to the island or reduce the number of direct flights.
Last week, Northwest Airlines executives met with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio seeking a 50 percent reduction in the passenger facility charge and landing fee to allow the company to upgrade its DC10 service to a Boeing 747 aircraft that can seat up to 400 passengers.
CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas has said the incentives that the government may grant Northwest will be given across-the-board and not for the benefit of only one airline.
