By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE U.S. Department of Transportation’s final order granting an air cargo exemption for Guam may lower the cost of goods shipped by air to and from Guam.
The DOT’s final order follows the initial approval of Guam’s petition for expanded air services issued last August.
With the issuance of the final order, foreign carriers can now move cargo from a foreign city to one U.S. point of entry, then to another U.S. point of entry, using Guam for cargo transfer operations.
According to the administration, this has the potential to reduce the cost of air freighted goods to and from the island because there will be more competition in the air freight sector.
“Guam keeps growing and the cargo exemption we’ve just been granted will help us to sustain growth and attract more goods to the island,” Gov. Felix P. Camacho said in reaction to the news.
The A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam, filed a petition for expanded air service with the U.S. DOT on February 9, 2006. U.S. DOT served tentative findings and conclusions on August 9, 2006 that proposed to grant an air cargo exemption.
U.S. airline carriers Continental Airlines, Inc., Continental Micronesia, Inc. and Northwest Airlines, Inc. along with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) stated that they did not oppose the finalization of U.S. DOT’s tentative findings and conclusions, paving the way for the issuance of the final DOT order.
In its final order, U.S. DOT recognized that Guam’s locality and isolation places the island at an economic disadvantage.
Exemption from cargo cabotage restrictions is meant to attract more economic activity from airlines currently operating on Guam and from other airlines.
Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, who wrote to DoT in support of the government of Guam’s petition on Feb. 24, 2006, said the Guam cargo exemption follows the existing precedents for Hawaii and Alaska but stops short of the passenger exemption requested by Guam.
“Expanded air cargo services at our airport, which the major U.S. airlines supported, should help increase business at the Guam airport,” Bordallo said.
Earlier, the congresswoman had requested that Guam be granted authorities consistent with those previously granted to carriers servicing Alaska and Hawaii.
In her letter, Bordallo urged the DoT to consider that Guam, Hawaii and Alaska have similar geographic, economic, and market conditions.