“We’re going to get together to find ways to cushion the decline in the number of flights here starting October,” Inos told the Variety in an interview last week.
He said travel agencies play a major role to sell the CNMI as a major destination not only among potential tourists but to international airlines as well.
Since Japan’s flag carrier left the Saipan route in Oct. 2005, the number of Japanese tourists visiting the CNMI sharply declined.
Only two international airlines serve the Saipan route from Japan’s key cities — Northwest/Delta Airlines and Asiana Airlines which also flies direct between key cities in South Korea and Saipan.
The Marianas Visitors Authority expects a double-digit reduction in air seat capacity from Japan and South Korea.
MVA said October through December, also known as the shoulder months, are normally the slowest season of the year for the tourism and aviation industries.
Continental Airlines will no longer charter flights between Saipan and Narita this month.
Northwest/Delta Airlines will reduce its daily Narita-Saipan flights via Nagoya to just five times a week instead of daily.
This will mean a 28 percent loss of weekly air seats out of Nagoya.
Asiana Airlines, for its part, will reduce its four times a week Osaka-Saipan flights to just one starting this month.
Inos said these management decisions will have a major impact on the CNMI’s ailing tourism industry.
“This is a big challenge and so we’re working on all fronts,” he said.
The Air Service Task Force, which has members from MVA, the Commonwealth Ports Authority and the private sector, are scheduled to meet with representatives of the Japan Travel Bureau, Japan Airlines, Air Nippon Airways, among other entities.
“We have to offset our potential losses,” said Inos and stressed that the looming federalization of local immigration will “drastically change” the number of potential visitors to the CNMI.
