United Airlines implements Narita-Saipan schedule change

After nearly two years of lobbying for this change, the Marianas Visitors Authority’s efforts have finally paid off with United Airlines officially implementing a schedule change that would benefit tourists traveling from Japan to Saipan, local traveling to the mainland, and overall the CNMI economy.

According to MVA chair Gloria Cavanaugh last May 7, United Airlines officially implemented a long-awaited schedule change.

The new scheduled flight will depart Tokyo-Narita International Airport on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 5:30pm and arrive at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport at 9:55pm and depart Saipan on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11:50am and arrive in Tokyo at 2:25pm.

Cavanagh said MVA is ecstatic about this new change.

“In 2022, we tried to get a better schedule. With the previous schedule, tourist coming in from Japan lose about a day as far as hotel stay and enjoying their vacation. We are very happy United was able to change the schedule. We’ve worked with the Commonwealth Ports Authority and federal agencies to get this schedule change,” she said.

The MVA chair said with the new schedule, she hopes the CNMI will see better results in terms of the flight’s load factor.

“It’s been two years since the start of this [flight], we’ve had mediocre success. With the new schedule, I believe that we’ll be able to see a lot better interest in coming over,” she said.

In addition, Cavanagh said the new schedule works really well for those catching connecting flights from Narita to the mainland.

“So for our locals, instead of waiting for six hours for a connecting flight at Narita airport, you’re now only waiting two and a half hours. I think everyone is going to benefit from this schedule change and this will be a win-win for both the CNMI and United Airlines,” she said.

According to a previous article on the Saipan Tribune, the new schedule brings several benefits for Japanese visitors to the Marianas. An early evening departure time from Tokyo-Narita is more familiar and more convenient for most Japanese travelers and especially the family market, which comprises most of Japanese visitors to the Marianas.

In addition, the late morning departure time from Saipan will reduce the number of required hotel nights, reducing travel expenses for travel to the Marianas. This new schedule will also benefit passengers transiting through Tokyo as they travel between the Marianas and the U.S. mainland as it shortens the layover time in Tokyo-Narita to just a few hours.

The Marianas received 838 visitors from Japan in February 2024 compared to 605 visitors in February 2023. Although the number of Japanese travelling abroad has nearly doubled in the last year, the number was still 42% lower in January 2024 compared to pre-pandemic in 2019.

Gloria Cavanagh