CPA’s protest against Continental gains grounds

The protest filed by the Commonwealth Ports Authority against the continued treatment of Saipan and Guam as co-terminals by Continental Micronesia is beginning to gain grounds.

The Office of the CNMI Resident Representative to Washington has filed a letter of support before the United States Department of Transportation, backing CPA’s position on Continental Micronesia’s application for the renewal of its Sapporo/Sendai-Guam/Saipan route.

In his motion, Washington Rep. John N. Babauta urged the federal transportation department to compel Continental Micronesia to stop treating Guam and Saipan as co-terminals and instead institute non-stop air service to Saipan from Sapporo and Sendai in Japan.

He underscored that the carrier’s unilateral decision in early 1998 to drop all direct international flights to Saipan has yielded tragic results in as far as the Commonwealth’s efforts to function as a major tour destination.

In 1997, Continental Micronesia had more than 700 direct flights between Japan and Saipan. None of this non-stop air service remains in existence at present.

Mr. Babauta said the carrier’s elimination of all its direct international flights to Saipan has adversely affected tourist arrivals into the Northern Marianas, citing 1999 Marianas Visitors Authority figures which noted that the numbers have dropped 27 percent compared with the previous year.

He is asking that should the federal transportation department approve Continental Micronesia’s application to renew its authority to fly between Sendai/Sapporo and Guam/Saipan, DOT orders the carrier to institute direct air service between Saipan and Japan.

Statistics obtained from the ports authority disclosed that Saipan has lost at least 64 percent of the total air transport services received by the CNMI in 1997 due to the decision of Continental Micronesia to abandon all direct international flights to the island last year.

Continental Micronesia reduced its services to Saipan by 64 percent between 1997 and 1999, bringing only 74,000 passengers into the CNMI last year.

In 1997, Continental Micronesia had more than 700 direct Japan-Saipan flights each year. The carrier does not currently have even a single direct flight between Saipan and Japan.

According to CPA, Continental Micronesia’s passenger haul dropped by 23 percent from 166,000 to 127,000 during the period covering calendar years 1996 and 1997.

In 1998, the volume of passengers brought in by the carrier to Saipan is lower by 23 percent compared with the previous year’s level, from 127,000 to 98,000. The figure dipped further by 25 percent last year, totaling only 74,000 passengers by end-December 1999.

CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas said Continental Micronesia downsized its air transport services to the Northern Marianas by seven percent during the period covering 1996 and 1997.

The following year, the airline company reduced its direct flights to Saipan by a whooping 43 percent, then again in 1999 when Continental slashed services to the island by a painful 37 percent.

Due to its adverse effects in the local tourism industry, CPA wrote the U.S. Department of Transportation decrying Continental Micronesia’s treatment of Saipan and Guam as co-terminals which CNMI officials claimed has adversely impacted CNMI’s tourism industry.

CPA Board Chair Roman S. Palacios said the ports authority could not rally behind Continental’s application to renew its regular flights to Sapporo and Sendai in Japan since this does not mean there will be direct flights between the Japanese cities and Saipan.

Mr. Palacios said Continental Micronesia’s decision to drop all direct international flights to and from Saipan resulted in an economic tumble which continues to have a profound and lasting effect in the CNMI’s ability to function as a tourist destination.