U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan has asked U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for a “full and fair consideration” of the Commonwealth Ports Authority’s request to exempt the CNMI from DOT’s order limiting the number of round-trip flight services between the U.S. and China.
DOT issued an order in August 2023 that limits to 24 the number of weekly round-trip passenger flights between the U.S. and China effective Oct. 29, 2023.
CPA asked for an exemption from the order and requested DOT to reinstate Annex VI of the U.S.-China Civil Air Transport Agreement, which exempts the CNMI from flight frequency limitations between the U.S. and China.
In his letter to Buttigieg on Wednesday last week, Kilili said he supports CPA’s request. He noted that Annex VI of the bilateral agreement already provides that airlines of the People’s Republic of China may provide unlimited scheduled air services between China, Guam and CNMI, and shall not be subject to limitations as to the number of designations or frequencies.
Kilili said Chinese tourists accounted for 38% of all visitors to the CNMI prior to the Covid-19 pandemic “and their spending contributed significantly to the economy. Yet in recent years, multiple natural disasters, the pandemic, and the consequent sharp downturn in tourism have hurt the Marianas economy considerably.”
Kilili said “regaining access to the Chinese tourism market would help our ailing economy recover. However, I believe this could only be possible if the Northern Mariana Islands is exempted by DOT from the limit on the number of scheduled flights from Chinese air carriers to the U.S., as allowed under the provisions of Annex VI.”
He said he recognizes that DOT’s action to limit the number of flights from China to US. destinations was taken in response to China’s imposed Covid-19 restrictions that practically shut down the U.S.-China passenger air transportation market for three years. However, he said, now that DOT is beginning to reopen the U.S.-China market and increase capacity, “I believe that flights to and from the Northern Mariana Islands should again be exempt from U.S.-China flight limitations.”
