MARIANAS Southern Airways Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stan Little wrote a letter to his employees to update them about their situation in light of the CNMI government’s termination of the $8 million sole-source contract MSA signed with the previous administration.
A copy of the letter was provided to Variety by an MSA employee.
In his letter, Little told the employees that he had sent Gov. Arnold I. Palacios a lengthy letter explaining the company’s position and desire to find a path forward.
But MSA has yet to receive a reply. Little said they began the process of trying to speak to the new administration early in January just after the inauguration of the new governor, “but they would not even return our phone calls or agree to a meeting.”
Little said if the governor “continues refusing to engage and the company is forced to suspend service at some point, every one of you will receive a job offer of some kind, somewhere. For those of you who don’t wish to transfer or work remotely, we will offer you a severance package that allows you time to get back on your feet. For those of you who transferred to the CNMI specifically to work for us, we will help you get back to where you came from or to another Southern station.”
One of the airlines’ local employees told Variety, “Please support us…. Some of us have [tried] to call [the] Governor but get no answer. We are ignored. We don’t want [to] share our name as we don’t want [to] cause troubles for our family.”
Governor Palacios said he had to terminate the contract because there was no money for it.
He said his predecessor, Ralph DLG Torres, “overcommitted the Commonwealth and overpromised money we did not have then and do not have now.”
In his letter, Little told his employees that “those of us in [company] leadership were just as blindsided as you probably were by the new governor’s actions toward us.”
Throughout last year, he said the company engaged in good faith negotiations with the CNMI government, “openly, publicly, and forthrightly.”
He personally traveled to meet with CNMI senators, representatives and administration officials to make sure that MSA’s venture in the Commonwealth was completely above board and fully vetted.
“We were confident we were doing a good thing for the long-term benefit of the people of the Marianas and Guam. With all the opportunities that Southern Airways has for flying here on the continent, the last thing we wanted or needed was to be embroiled in political controversy in the Far Pacific. Nevertheless, the new administration has chosen to politicize our presence there, seemingly in an attempt to vilify their election opponents,” Little said.
Meanwhile, MSA continues to fly, “and we continue to serve the people of the CNMI and Guam. They are our customers, and they are our primary concern on a daily basis. We cannot, however, operate indefinitely with the government refusing to honor its contract.”
He added, “While I cannot promise you how this will end, I can promise you this: You are Southern Airways team members, and we have always taken care of our own. We did not terminate, lay off, furlough, or early retire any of our team members, even during the darkest days of Covid-19.”
The federally funded contract with the CNMI government allowed MSA to offer a $99 one-way airfare to Guam.
With the contract’s termination, MSA’s one-way air ticket to Guam now costs between $229 and $269.
