According to Walter Dias, staff vice president for sales and marketing for Continental Airlines: “Within the law there is a provision for those countries that provide economic support to the CNMI and because we are tied to the CNMI as well, we will work with the governments of the CNMI and Guam to ask the federal government to give these countries continued access to the CNMI whether it be through a special visa program or a special visa waiver program.”
He added, “Continental Airlines will certainly support anything that the governments of CNMI and Guam will come up with in attempt to maintain access to these countries. Whether the federal government agrees or not is another question.”
Recently, stakeholders in the CNMI tourism industry expressed concerns that the federalization law could make it harder for tourists to enter the islands.
Dias said they are going “all out” to promote and sell Micronesia to the world. He said the flow of visitors to Micronesia greatly affects the airline seats that Continental sells.
He admitted that airline businesses are also hard hit by the escalating fuel prices.
“The past 12 months have been very challenging for the airline industry. Each dollar increase in the price of fuel translates to millions of additional expenses and we could not pass this increase to the passengers,” Dias said.
Dias was on Saipan for a ceremony commemorating Continental Micronesia’s 40th anniversary at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport on Friday.
“Forty years ago, a 727-100 aircraft took off from Koblerfield on Saipan and flew east towards Honolulu. The 4,300 miles completed the inaugural flight of Continental Airlines, and we come back here to celebrate where it all began,” Dias said.
