August 8, 2025

ON RUNWAY EXPANSION Manglona: Don't leave out Rota

With the planned improvements in Saipan and Tinian airports, Rota Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona has appealed to the Commonwealth Ports Authority to begin planning for the extension of Rota International Airport runway.

With the planned improvements in Saipan and Tinian airports, Rota Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona has appealed to the Commonwealth Ports Authority to begin planning for the extension of Rota International Airport runway.

While he commends CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas for planning ahead for Saipan and Tinian, Manglona said he hopes the ports authority will do the same for the island municipality.

“We also want to encourage you to be equally concerned about Rota’s future. Rota’s economic success depends on good and reliable air transportation,” he said.

The runway improvement, Manglona noted, is an important component of the island’s economic development to stimulate Rota’s growth especially its tourism industry.

The scheduled construction of a new runway on Tinian leaves Rota’s airport as the only facility that cannot accommodate larger aircraft. And such situation, Manglona said, will deprive Rota from receiving international flights between major airports like Guam and Saipan, thus, hampering its economic development.

“Quite honestly, we hate to see this indiscriminate treatment happen to us. We want to develop and grow. Economy is our administration’s top priority,” said Manglona.

Recently, CPA and the Municipality of Rota have signed a Memorandum of Agreement in connection with the repair of the Rota International Airport runway.

Based on the MOA, Rota will reimburse the ports authority of the cost of the A&E Design work amounting to $68,000 using federal construction grants earmarked for the project.

Such reimbursement will be made to the ports authority within 30 days as soon as the First Senatorial District funding legislation for the project is passed into law.

Since last year, the island-municipality of Rota has been seeking the immediate repair of its airport after a study conducted by Winzler and Kelly indicated that the runway becomes slippery for bigger aircraft during wet condition.

Due to cash shortage, the ports authority has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for funding of the Rota International Airport to address this safety concern.

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