JAL pullout now official

Japan Airlines made good on its promise to issue a final decision on the planned pullout from Saipan by July 2005, although it waited for the last business day of the month to do so.

Rendered in both Japanese and English, JAL’s rather terse official notice read: “Today, July 29, 2005, the JAL Group has decided to suspend its Japan-Saipan route (Narita-Saipan, Kansai-Saipan).”

JAL indicated Oct. 4, 2005 as the effective date of the pullout, but provided no other information about the flight suspension, including its plan regarding a possible charter service to Saipan once the scheduled flights are cancelled.

At least one travel agency got the faxed announcement at around 3:30pm Friday. As of close of business yesterday, neither the Commonwealth Ports Authority nor the Marianas Visitors Authority had received a copy of JAL’s notice.

In a telephone interview, JAL-Saipan manager Kunio Tomita said the local office itself had just been informed of the final decision of the airline’s top management.

Tomita said that, although the pullout was now official, the airline had yet to make definite plans for the Saipan office beyond Oct. 4. Charter flights are probable, but remain under discussion, he said.

MVA board chair David M. Sablan said that he was saddened by the news, although the CNMI had been expecting it for the last two months. He also expressed disappointment that the government seemed to be last to get the official word from JAL.

“We were told that they would make their official announcement in July. They waited until the last week, but now the decision is out, there’s really not much we can do except to accept it,” said Sablan.

He added. “It’s just unfortunate that they did not follow protocol. It would seem logical that the government should be notified first because the government has been very active in trying to get this thing resolved. And yet, up to this point in time, almost 5pm, we have not received anything.”

CPA executive director Carlos Salas also said he had yet to receive the latest information from JAL. He deferred comment until he had a chance to read JAL’s notice himself.

Currently, JAL provides Saipan daily DC10 flights from Narita and daily Boeing 767 flights from Kansai. The two flights provide a combined capacity of 182,000 seats annually.

About 50 percent of the Japanese visiting the CNMI take JAL’s service.

Japan is the Northern Marianas’ primary tourism market, comprising 70 percent of the total arrivals to the islands.