Airline eyes Saipan-Brisbane route

A start-up carrier based in Australia wants to operate new flights between Brisbane and Saipan starting next month.

Eco Airlines chief executive officer Rex Banks said his company is now working on getting a license from the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate a charter service between Brisbane and Saipan, with stops at Honiara and Pohnpei.

“Subject to government approval, we’re hoping to be up and running by the middle of November,” Banks said in an interview.

He expressed confidence that the airline, with its over four years of preparation time, would be able to satisfy all DOT requirements.

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority has already issued Eco Airlines a foreign air operators certificate. The carrier also has leased Russian Yakovlev Yak 42D aircraft from a Russian carrier, Karat Air, to service its flights.

“Everything’s all set and ready; we’ve been preparing for this for a long period of time. A lot of people have promised to do this in the past, and they failed. So we want to make sure that we were almost positive before we even mention it,” Banks said.

Formed eight months ago, Eco Airlines is now registered in Australia and Hong Kong. The carrier currently flies out of Brisbane to various Pacific islands, including Honiara in the Solomon Islands, Majuro in the Marshall Islands, Tarawa in Kiribati, and Nadi in Fiji.

On Tuesday, Banks and Eco Airlines general manager Clive Abbott met with Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Carlos Salas to discuss the planned Brisbane-Saipan flights.

In a separate interview, Salas said he was very encouraged by Eco Airlines’ plan. “I urged them to get all the federal requirements out of the way, and we will take care of the local requirements,” he said.

Salas said DOT requirements are less stringent for a license to operate charter flights, as compared with a permit to operate regularly scheduled flights. However, a charter service license normally needs to be renewed every year.

According to Banks, Eco Airlines will provide the Brisbane-Saipan flights once a week, initially. More flights will be offered, depending on market demand, he said.

The Brisbane-Saipan flights will provide a combination of freight and passenger services. “The main emphasis really is on the freight service. But pure freight doesn’t work, so you have to put some passengers in to offset the economical costs,” he said.

He noted that the new service can help ease some of the food shortage experienced in the islands. He cited fruits, vegetables, and dairy products as some of the food items that could be imported from Australia at competitive prices.

As for the passenger service, Banks said the airline should not have a difficult time getting enough travelers for its flights. He explained that while the Russian Yakovlev Yak 42D is a 120-seater airplane, Eco Airlines is planning to put in only 54 seats. The rest of the space will be reserved for cargo.

He added that the airline should need at least 36 passengers only to offset the flight costs.

“We think it’s very achievable to get 36 passengers,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of research into it. There used to be quite a lot of traffic coming from Sydney to Saipan [when Continental Airlines was servicing the route]. We believe there’s passenger availability.”

Passengers will be traveling in business class seats for economy fare, or what is known as “premium economy” service in the aviation industry, Banks said.

In the same interview, Abbott added that the airline is expecting a lot of traffic between Pohnpei and Saipan, since the new flights will provide direct access between the two islands.

“It will be very competitive because it’s an economy service and we will be doing it in just over two hours,” he said.