HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — After a 17-month suspension of flights due to Covid-19 restrictions, Korean Air resumed its regular service to Guam early Friday morning with 82 passengers. The aircraft has 277 seats.
Other airlines from Korea that resumed or added regular flights have also seen lots of empty seats, but the Guam Visitors Bureau is thankful for these airlines’ renewed commitment to help reinvigorate Guam’s visitor industry.
“While this past year and a half has been challenging for everyone, it’s great to see the light at the end of the tunnel become brighter,” GVB Vice President Gerry Perez said in a statement hours after Korean Air’s B777-30 aircraft arrived from Incheon to Guam around 1 a.m. Friday.
Except for United Airlines and Jin Air, most airlines suspended flights to Guam throughout the pandemic and some of them have recently resumed their regular flights. There were some emergency charter flights during the pandemic.
“We’re happy to welcome back Korean Air and thank them for committing to Guam once again,” Perez said. “We look forward to working with more of our airline and travel trade partners to reinvigorate Guam’s tourism industry.”
GVB Marketing Manager Colleen Cabedo said the 82 passengers on Korean Air were a combination of tourists and returning residents, although there’s “no exact count” available.
Low passenger load
Guam has seen a slow return of tourism. Tourist arrivals were mainly from Taiwan, who have availed of GVB’s Air V&V, or vaccination and vacation, program.
More than 1,000 Taiwanese arrived in July, and more than 1,000 seats are available on additional Eva Air charter flights from Taipei in August. Most arrivals to Guam throughout the pandemic were residents and military personnel.
GVB estimates a total of 3,754 seats to Guam through the end of August from South Korea, but less than 1,000 have so far been sold.
GVB and other members of the Guam Recovery Task Force said it could take a while for arrival numbers to pick up, especially from the main markets of Korea and Japan because of the fresh spikes in the number of Covid-19 cases in these countries plus the strict quarantine of returning residents.
Korean Air’s next regular flight to Guam is Aug. 13, and every Friday thereafter.
Other airlines from Korea
T’Way, a low-cost carrier, resumed its regular flight schedule to Guam on July 31 with 52 passengers on a 189-seat aircraft.
Jin Air also increased its air service to twice weekly, starting Friday afternoon with 74 passengers on board a 189-seat aircraft. Jin Air is the only Korean-based carrier that has had regular air service throughout the pandemic, GVB said.
GVB continues to conduct greetings to welcome passengers on all incoming flights, including giving bottled water and hand sanitizers to the passengers.
On Thursday morning, for example, GVB had musician Joe Guam helped greet the Korean Air passengers at the A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport with upbeat local music. The passengers included children and adults, some of them not only donning face masks but also in full white personal protective gear.
Some tourism-related businesses said they are still on a wait-and-see before reopening, since arrivals are still not enough to sustain their operations at this time.
GVB has paid for trolley services free of charge to tourists, residents and military at least up to Aug. 30 to provide safe and convenient transportation, as well as to encourage more businesses to reopen.
Some of the tourists who arrived on the first regular Korean Air flight to Guam since the Covid-19 pandemic began more than a year ago wore personal protective gear. The flight arrived at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport early Friday.