NMI to be dropped from HK route

In yet another body blow to the CNMI’s tourism industry, Continental Airlines confirmed yesterday that it will be dropping Saipan from its Guam-Hong Kong route effective Nov. 7 this year, and suspending its jet service from Guam to Saipan beginning January 2006.

Continental Airlines vice president for sales and marketing Walter Dias said in an interview yesterday that, instead of a Guam-Saipan-Hong Kong route, the airline will just make a direct Guam-Hong Kong flight.

He said this is due to:

* the relatively small traffic between Hong Kong and Saipan;

* the implementation of a rigid Transportation Security Administration regulation requiring all Guam-bound passengers to get off with their baggage at the Saipan International Airport for full screening; and

* the skyrocketing prices of fuel, which makes the Saipan stopover “just impractical.”

Dias said the major reason is that Hong Kong customers still prefer Guam over the CNMI.

“Basically, the problem that we have with that flight is that, [for] most of the [passengers], their primary destination is still Guam. The majority of people on the flight from Hong Kong will continue to go to Guam,” said Dias.

Further, he said that when the airline switched from Hong Kong-Guam-Saipan to Hong Kong-Saipan-Guam, TSA also changed its procedures, creating an “additional hassle” for the customers as they are required to get off the plane for a full screening at the Saipan airport.

“TSA [now] requires that we ask everyone to get off the aircraft, and all those passengers, if they are continuing on to Guam, they have to go through a whole screening process just like they’re getting in to the airport,” he said.

He said this setup has been ongoing in the last six or seven months.

“It’s additional hassle, absolutely. That was not the case when we started that route. We were able to allow the passengers to stay on board while we waited to load people from Saipan …It was not a big problem then but when procedures changed—when everybody has to get off the plane—not only do you have to get off the plane [but] you have to take all your carry-on baggage off the plane and you have to go through a full search again, including taking off your shoes, and all that. So it’s a big problem, especially when most of the people on the plane are still going on to Guam,” he said.

He said it would be negligible if more customers are stopping on Saipan. Also, he said a Saipan stop contributes to bigger fuel costs.

Meantime, Dias said that Continental Airline’s jet service from Guam to Saipan would be suspended beginning Jan. 10, 2006. This means that passengers would be traveling the Guam-Saipan route using Cape Air, which offers a much smaller 46-seater aircraft.

Continental currently uses Boeing 737-800, which carries 155 passengers between Guam and Saipan twice a week.

“It’s very difficult to operate the 737 between Saipan and Guam because it’s such just a short flight,” he said, noting that it is “very expensive to operate,” especially when there is less than 50 percent load factor on that flight.

Dias described the recent changes in the airlines flights as “difficult.”

“It’s a difficult decision. We don’t take these decisions lightly but given the very, very high increase in fuel, we had to do it. Just in the last six weeks, fuel activity has just been very detrimental to the airline operations around the world,” he said.

He agreed that the latest decision is another bad news for the CNMI.

“Yes, it is. It’s really unfortunate. This is the decision that the airline made reluctantly because of the intense pressure of making sure that we’re doing all the right things to manage our business. It’s a very difficult time. Even though we don’t like to make those types of decisions, were kind of forced to. …You know, a number of [airline] companies went bankrupt in the U.S. So Continental Airlines doesn’t want to be in that situation. That’s why we have to make this decision so we can be here to survive…,” he said.

Last week, Continental announced that it would also stop flying between Guam and Taipei, which includes a stop on Saipan, effective Oct. 31, 2005, a year since the Saipan stop was introduced.

Continental cited increasing fuel costs, declining fares, and weak market demand.

Continental Micronesia president and chief executive officer Mark A. Erwin said that, in spite of the efforts to promote the destinations of Guam and Saipan to Taiwanese visitors, “this route performed poorly for us.”