Christopher Concepcion
HONG Kong Airlines will resume its Saipan flight service in March and not February as earlier announced, Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Chris Concepcion told reporters.
“We’re still in close communication with stakeholders for the Hong Kong Airlines’ flight [service],” he added. “From my understanding, they’re still working out some discussion points between the airline, travel agencies and tour operators who are going to be promoting these flights and selling tickets,” Concepcion said.
“As of today, the tentative launch is going to be in March, toward the mid or latter half of March, so that’s very exciting news. I’ll leave it to the airline itself to make the final announcement of when they’ll officially be flying to Saipan. But we’re very excited that Hong Kong Airlines is returning to Saipan [after] four years,” he added.
Hong Kong Airlines suspended its Hong Kong-Saipan flights in 2020 due to the global pandemic.
This time, Concepcion said HKA will fly twice a week to Saipan using an A330 aircraft, which has 280 seats. “That’s a good number,” he added.
MVA is optimistic that Hong Kong Airlines will help revive the CNMI’s tourism industry, he said.
“Hong Kong Airlines is looking at a 12-month program, but these things usually extend depending on the success or failure of the flights,” Concepcion said. “We think it’s just right to restart this market. There’s a pent-up demand for people in the Hong Kong area to travel and we are the closest U.S. destination to East Asia, so we are in a good position to capture a nice portion of that market,” Concepcion added.
“China was down for a while, but with Hong Kong coming back soon, it will open a door for that region to … boost … arrivals,” he added.
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security approved the interim final ruling establishing the CNMI Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program or EVS-TAP, which is specifically for travelers from the People’s Republic of China.
EVS-TAP, which is supported by the CNMI business community, will allow pre-screened Chinese nationals to travel to the CNMI visa-free for up to 14 days.
U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, who earlier asked DHS to implement EVS-TAP, is now requesting the U.S. Department of Transportation to exempt the CNMI from the U.S.-China flight cap.
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….”
