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CPA: Taiwanese airline may soon begin services to Saipan
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Posted on Dec 06 2005
A Taiwanese air carrier may soon begin direct flight services to Saipan, following Continental Micronesia’s pullout of similar services between the island and Taiwan.
Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Carlos Salas said the airline company, the name of which he did not disclose pending the finality of the decision to begin services to Saipan, recently contacted his office.
He said the air carrier’s management sounded optimistic about the plan to begin direct flight services between Saipan and Taiwan, which has reportedly been in the final stages.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a new airline by late December or early 2006,” Salas said. “The airline is trying to finalize the numbers.”
Recent statistics released by the Marianas Visitors Authority showed tourist arrivals nose-diving by 95 percent in November 2005 when compared to arrivals from Taiwan in November 2004. The drop slightly contributed to the overall 20-percent decline in tourist arrivals to the CNMI last month.
The MVA said the CNMI hosted only 15 visitors from Taiwan in November, a big drop from November 2004’s 329 visitors. It attributed this development to the cancellation of Continental Micronesia’s direct flights between Taiwan and Saipan effective Nov. 1.
In all, the MVA said a total of 35,008 tourists came to the CNMI last month, declining by 20.24 percent from November’s 43,890 tourists. The CNMI’s main tourist market, Japan, brought in only 21,602 tourists to the CNMI during the period, close to 10,000 less than November 2004’s 30,454. The MVA attributed the decline in Japanese visitors to the termination of Japan Airlines’ flights to Saipan.
