An airline that services Rota from Guam and Saipan would discontinue its services to the southernmost island of the CNMI effective May 31, 2018.<\/p>\n
According to an internal communication to employees of United Airlines, Cape Air United Express, an express airline operating under United, would stop serving the Saipan-Guam, Rota-Guam, and Rota-Saipan routes effective May 31, 2018. Also, United Airlines announced internally that they would start serving the Saipan-Guam routes daily using a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 16 seats in United Business, 42 seats in Economy Plus, and 108 seats in United Economy, totalling a 166-seat maximum capacity per flight.<\/p>\n
The move, according to International Network Planning vice president Patrick Quayle, is in time for the airline\u2019s 50th anniversary of operation in the Micronesia region. The communication indicated that the decision was made \u201cbased on customer feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c…Many have asked for aircraft[s] that offer mainline amenities and comfort, and that fleet type can operate more reliably regardless of Western Pacific weather conditions,\u201d the communication noted.<\/p>\n
It quoted Quayle as stating, \u201cWe are confident the new daily 737 service will provide our customers in Guam and Saipan with a better experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The communication stated that the Saipan-Guam route would start with an aircraft departing Guam daily at 7am and arriving on Saipan at 7:45am. The return flight is scheduled to depart Saipan at 8:45am and arrive in Guam at 9:30am.<\/p>\n
Saipan Tribune attempted to confirm the matter with United Airlines but they have yet to respond as of press time.<\/p>\n
After learning of the news, Sen. Teresita Santos (R-Rota) told Saipan Tribune that the loss of a major airline serving Rota would be devastating, especially paired with the island\u2019s struggling tourism and economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only will such a drastic decision greatly affect our limited air passenger servce into the island of Rota, but will also greatly impact our economic development, including lost jobs for those who are currently employed by Cape Air\/United Express, tourism, and potential developments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsequently, on behalf of the people and leaders of Rota, I strongly appeal to United Airlines to reconsider its decision as the consequences of such a decision will negatively impact our island,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Santos plans to introduce at the session of the Rota Legislative Delegation next Tuesday a resolution urging the airline to reconsider the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201c…It is highly recommended that the leaders of Rota meet with United Airlines so we can address the matter at the soonest time available and ensure continuity of air passenger services to Rota,\u201d she said in a statement, noting that the two remaining airlines servicing Rota were Star Marianas Air and Arctic Circle. Neither of the two airlines offer daily flights to Saipan or Guam, and Santos noted that there was often a lack of seats.<\/p>\n
Arctic Circle Air, according to Santos, has unreliable flight schedules, while Star Marianas cancelled their Rota-Guam flights since Feb. 5 this year.<\/p>\n
Santos did applaud United Airlines\u2019 decision to use a bigger plane to service Saipan and Guam.<\/p>\n
\u2018Less expensive to fly to Seoul than Guam\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Many residents of Guam and Saipan who were interviewed for this story were unsure of the impact of the decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m much of a fan of these changes,\u201d said Lena Leishman of Hagatna, Guam. \u201cI enjoyed the flexibility of the flights especially this last trip so I could fly quickly after work and fit in two days of diving before I fly back for work. The new flight times wouldn\u2019t make it easy for a quick weekend trip.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI also kind of enjoyed the smaller planes. It\u2019s a short flight, so comfort and space wasn\u2019t ever a concern or need,\u201d she added, noting that it was easier to embark and disembark a plane of that size.<\/p>\n Adam Walsh, of Capital Hill, Saipan, said that he was all for the decision if it meant more \u201creliable\u201d planes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been numerous issues with Cape Air from Guam to Saipan. If this means we get bigger, more reliable United planes, then I am all for it. It appears competition has pushed some airlines out while allowing the opportunity for others to come in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible idea to just have one flight a day,\u201d said Yogi Singh of Papago, Saipan after indicating that he liked the idea of a \u201cbigger\u201d and \u201cmore reliable\u201d aircraft. \u201cAs a traveller to Guam for business, I will be wasting more time and money for those trips,\u201d he said, referring to the new Saipan-Guam flights to be offered by United. He added the lack of afternoon trips will cost him \u201cunnecessary overnight stays on Guam.\u201d<\/p>\n Brad Ruszala of As Lito, Saipan, gave away all of his United One Pass Miles because he \u201ccouldn\u2019t depend on the key component of all of my trips through Guam via Cape Air.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hope the new jet will bring with it more reliability than what we\u2019ve been forced to endure with Cape Air. While the new schedule and reduced seating will result in an adjustment for travel to and from Guam, we are still lucky to have low-cost flights to Seoul to accommodate our international travel needs. It\u2019s less expensive to fly to Seoul than it is to fly to Guam,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) sent a letter dated April 16, 2018, to United Airlines Asia region managing director Sam Shinohara requesting to negotiate the pull-out.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to sit down and discuss this matter further with you and other executives of United Airlines and Cape Air,\u201d said Manglona in a document obtained by Saipan Tribune. Manglona added that he remains confident that they could find a solution that would be \u201cbeneficial to both your company and the CNMI, particularly Rota.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe leaders of Rota and the CNMI are pursuing new avenues to promote tourism on Rota, and with the one less airline company servicing [Rota], our efforts to bring tourists to the island will be hindered,\u201d Manglona wrote. \u201c…The residents of Rota will be greatly affected by the discontinuance of Cape Air\u2019s service,\u201d he said, adding that Cape Air has been servicing the island since 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only did [Cape Air] create jobs on the island, but the tourism industry was able to stay afloat. For this reason, I respectfully ask that your company to reconsider its decision to discontinue Cape Air\u2019s flight service to Rota,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n According to Santos, ending services for Rota in June is \u201cuntimely\u201d as June comes with \u201ca lot of activities such as graduation and people going on vacation [to and from Rota].\u201d (With reports from Bea Cabrera)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An airline that services Rota from Guam and Saipan would discontinue its services to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[26,51,38,20819],"class_list":["post-274047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-cnmi","tag-guam","tag-saipan-tribune","tag-united-airlines-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}