CPA on Japan trip: 'mission accomplished'

Saipan has been successfully mentioned as a major destination during the second consultation meeting on open skies agreement between Japan and United States aviation and transportation officials in Tokyo last week.

Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chair Roman S. Palacios, Executive Director Carlos H. Salas, Board Member Roman Tudela and Aviation Task Force Chair JM Guerrero attended the bilateral talks last week.

Mr. Salas said the delegation from U.S. Department of Transportation clearly mentioned that Saipan and Guam need more slots and frequencies from the Narita International Airport during the consultation meeting with their Japanese counterparts.

“The biggest accomplishment of our trip was the fact that we were able to make sure that the U.S. delegation specifically mentioned the need for more slots out of Narita and for more frequencies for direct access to Guam and Saipan,” he said.

Mr. Salas added that much of the Commonwealth’s preparation for the discussion was made on Saipan as CPA was religiously sending letters of concern, urging the federal transportation department to mention the need for more slots at the Narita airport for the CNMI.

“We have to make sure that our tourism industry is getting the kind of infrastructure support it needs because it is our biggest source of revenues, and our presence in the consultation made sure that we were considered,” he told reporters.

This, even as Mr. Salas disclosed that nothing was decided during last week’s open skies meeting between Japanese and federal transportation officials, adding that a decision on the availability of slots and frequencies may be reached in the third and final round of discussion scheduled in either March or April 2001.

“That’s when they get into the details on how many slots and frequencies will be made available to each countries. At this point, the meeting was more of an exchange of concerns or the things we would like to see in the final round of consultation,” he added.

Mr. Salas said the Runway-B at the Narita International Airport, which will be completed in 2002, is shorter than the existing facility. He added this poses a setback to U.S. carriers because the new runway has flying distance restrictions.

Another thing that concerns the American delegation is that Japan will only allow carriers to take up slots at the Runway-B if they would surrender the slots they have at the old Narita airport runway which is more advantageous to U.S. carriers because it is longer and does not entail distance restrictions.

“It may not be an advantage at all if they move to Runway-B. These are the kind of things that they are trying to iron out and come up with an agreement on how an arrangement can be made that will be beneficial to both countries,” he explained.

CPA participated in the consultation meeting to renew the CNMI government’s efforts in improving Saipan’s access to Japan, which is consistently the largest market for the Northern Marianas tourism industry.

CPA wants the U.S. Government and Japanese aviation officials to include Saipan in the list of destinations for the second, short runway at the Narita Airport in Japan.

Japan’s estimate of departing-flight distance for Narita Airport’s Runway B is 1,500 miles which include Guam, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai. The list does not include Hong Kong and Saipan.