He said he will try to hold talks with Continental Micronesia’s president and chief executive officer Mark Erwin to discuss the issue as well as explore the possibility of enticing other airlines to fill in the void like the Philippine Airlines which flies direct between Manila and Guam.“Now if we’re planning to send our medical referrals to the Philippines, it’s going to create a challenge,” Fitial said in an interview on Friday. “How can we send patients right away if we’re losing these flights from Saipan to the Philippines?”
Continental Micronesia said it is stopping the direct service for the Saipan-Manila route due to low demand and the soaring prices of jet fuel.
The airline will also suspend flights from its Guam hub to Hong Kong and to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, effective July 28, and Oct. 2.
About 3,000 jobs throughout its offices worldwide will be eliminated.
Erwin said the skyrocketing increase in fuel costs severely impacted the viability of the markets to be suspended, adding that “each dollar of oil increase has an annual impact to Continental Airlines of $45 million.”
“While these are very difficult decisions to make, the record fuel costs, combined with lower customer demand in these markets, lead to the decision to suspend service,” Erwin said in a statement.
“These schedule changes in Asia Pacific will result in a four percent year-over-year decline in Continental mainline capacity and combined with the April 2008 suspension of Nagoya-Honolulu service will result in 21 percent year-over-year decline in a CMI mainline capacity (available seat miles) in the fourth quarter,” he added.
Challenges
The CNMI sends about 500 patients each year for medical referrals to the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland because the Commonwealth Health Center can only provide limited medical services.
Most patients are referred to the Philippines because of its close proximity to the islands and cheaper medical charges.
The travel time between Saipan and Manila is also short — just about four hours.
The governor said taking the Guam route to reach Manila may not be an option because the domestic flight service between Saipan and Guam does not accept patients on stretchers.
“We cannot go to Guam because if we have stretcher patients, Cape Air is not capable to bring them to Guam. We will have to take the long route. Saipan-Tokyo-Manila — but you’re going to wait eight to 10 hours in Tokyo. It’s going to present a very big problem,” he said.
“I want to talk to Mark Erwin because we need help and they are the only ones providing direct service flight now,” he added.
In 2007, the government spent $4.4 million on medical referrals.
The governor said Continental’s pullout will also inconvenience a lot of Filipinos, the largest ethnic group in the CNMI.
Northern Marianas is home to more or less 18,000 Filipinos, mostly contract workers.
“Filipinos cannot go to Guam without a visa,” he said.
Erwin said the Saipan-Manila market was severely impacted by the loss of Manila customers traveling to Saipan to take the National Council Licensure Examination nursing examinations required by the U.S.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing initiated NCLEX testing in Manila in August 2007, eliminating the necessity for nursing candidates in the Philippines to travel to Saipan to take the examination.
“Despite our best efforts, working with the Marianas Visitors Authority and the government of CNMI, we were unable to generate sufficient customer demand from the Philippines to replace the loss of our customers traveling to Saipan to take the NCLEX examinations,” said Erwin.
Continental said customers who are currently booked on flights affected by the capacity reductions will be contacted by the airline to arrange alternate flights or, at the election of the customer, a ticket refund.
