Pacific airport managers to discuss aviation safety in Palau
Airport managers from islands around the Pacific will gather next week in Palau to discuss aviation safety in a three-day annual conference funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, a ranking ports official announced yesterday.
Commonwealth Ports Authority Executive Director Carlos H. Salas is scheduled to leave for the Palauan capital of Koror with four other Northern Marianas airport officials to attend the meeting.
Saipan hosted the annual event in 1997. It was held in Guam in 1998 and in Honolulu last year.
The conference, which will be held from Feb. 9 to 11, 2000, is expected to gather aviation officials from Hawaii, Guam, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Airport managers from the Republic of Marshall Islands will also attend as guests.
Mr. Salas said the workshop is also aimed at discussing future improvements and continued maintenance of the air transport facilities in the several Pacific-island states that are under the administration of the FAA.
He added measures to improve revenue-generating capabilities of the island-states’ airports will also be tackled during the three-day conference, which will begin Wednesday next week.
This early, CPA is already poised at making Northern Marianas airports at par with facilities from other countries, by crafting a long-term improvement plan for the Saipan International Airport that includes the expansion of its runway safety zone.
While the current coverage of the Saipan International Airport runway’s safety zone meets standards set by the FAA, Mr. Salas said there may be a need to extend the safety zone in the future.
CPA’s efforts in drawing up plans aimed at improving the islands’ transit facilities have been prompted by problems relating to transportation which have long been identified to be major a major factor in the apparently stagnating economic activity in the CNMI.
The agency is also looking at expanding the runway of the Saipan International Airport from 8,600 feet to 10,600 feet since its current capacity restricts the facility from accommodating direct flights from the mainland U.S., a government report said.
At present, the airport can only receive flights from the closer Asian cities. The facility hosts an air carrier apron that has parking position for six aircraft. With these, it can accommodate expected growth in the tourism industry in the near future even without expansion.
Officials have said, however, that the Saipan airport is too small for direct flights from the mainland U.S. and has only one runway which has the potentials of creating scheduling conflicts especially when the number of international flights increase.
Part of future improvement plans for the Saipan International Airport, aside from extending the current runway to 10,600 feet, is the construction of a new parallel runway with connecting taxiways.
