Saipan Air calls it quits
- Details
- Published on Friday, June 29, 2012 17:49
- Written by Press Release
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SAIPAN Air general counsel Steven Pixley in a statement Friday announced that the NMI's first airline, which was supposed to launch its first flight on July 1, is ceasing operations immediately.
Pixley said the "difficult" decision "follows months of preparation and millions of dollars in expenses."He said Tan Holdings' Saipan Air "acknowledges the hard work and effort expended by our staff and travel partners toward building the first locally based air service."
Unfortunately, he added, " the economic reality of restarting operations following the postponement of the original launch date presents an insurmountable obstacle."
According to the lawyer, Swift Air, "the entity that defaulted on its charter agreement contract with Saipan Air, filed bankruptcy. Despite this filing, Saipan Air will continue to pursue all of its legal options."
Swift Air owes Saipan Air $1.276 million.
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Comments
Declaring now (from your barstools) that it was fishy is useless. Next time, recognize these scams before they fleece you.
See here: mvariety.com/cnmi/cnmi-news/local/46452-saipan-air-to-launch-daily-flights-to-narita-beijing-on-july-1.php
And I reiterate my comments from May 16: if the Variety's reporters did more than blankly repeating what someone told them, this newspaper could fulfill its putative mission of telling people something they don't already know. And the CNMI's cast of liars and scammers would have something to fear. But I'm just dreaming.
I was thinking the same thing......sooner or later anyone or anything associated with Fitial will turn to dust but there are lots of other questions to be answered. Tan doesn't usually get left holding the bag.
Has he severed ties with Fitial now that SA has failed? Is it a 1.5 mil dollar excuse to get away from Fitial?
So basically people who can't be trusted (Fitial, Tan)were dealing with other people who can't be trusted (Swift Air) and ... surprise surprise... everybody got screwed. .. Except for whoever looted Swift Air on the way out.
Interesting that it was not to be a "flagship carrier" at all but just a charter airline. That begs the question as to why there are still only charter airline fares from China direct to Saipan. Most of the Chinese people I know use Asiana Airlines to get to Saipan, even though it means high fares and a stop in Korea.
This begs the question as to why there are no scheduled flights to China. Is there a sweetheart deal between the designated charter travel agency and some highly placed government official? When Sichuan Airlines announced its charter service to Saipan in May of 2011, it stated its intentions to become a scheduled airline. What happened? Why is the CNMI not making aggressive efforts to invite the Chinese tourism market?
I'm sure the details are a bit more complex than that... but I like the analogy! I'll say it with a 'don~!'