Pacific Magazine > Magazine > August 30, 2007

Air and Sea

Air and Sea

Rota Airport Runway Extension Complete

The Rota International Airport held a ribbon cutting ceremony July 12 marking the completion of its 1,000-foot runway extension. The $8.6 million project took a little over a year to complete, with about $5 million of funding coming from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the balance from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands government. OKP Corporation of the CNMI was the contractor of the project.

Governor Benigno Fitial’s senior policy advisor, Ramon Mafnas,
represented the governor at the brief ceremony held at the airport with local dignitaries in attendance, including three members of the Commonwealth Ports Authority board.  Mafnas said the now 7,000-foot
runway will make it possible for Rota to receive larger aircraft, such as Boeing 767 and 737 that could fly directly to Rota from Asia and other points of origin.

Mafnas said that Lieutenant Governor Tim P. Villagomez met that morning with officials from Australia-based Polynesian Blue airline exploring the possibility of the low-cost carrier providing air services to the CNMI.  Polynesian Blue currently provides services between Samoa and Australia and New Zealand.  Its parent airline Virgin Blue also flies between Fiji, Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Australia and New Zealand.

Rota International Airport is currently being served by Freedom Air and Cape Air, a subsidiary of Continental Micronesia.  Both are based on Guam and use turboprop aircraft.   

George F. Fleming Memorial Building. Photo: Jacqueline Hernandez

The Saipan Seaport Building owned by the Northern Marianas Commonwealth Ports Authority has been named the George F. Fleming Memorial Building, during a brief ceremony held July 6 at the Port of Saipan.  Fleming, who died July 8, 2006, was the first Northern Marianas resident to receive a captain’s license to operate commercial ships in the Pacific region.  “Being the first indigenous (person) to earn a U.S. Coast Guard masters license allowing him to operate vessels up to 12,000 tons in any ocean of the world…(Fleming) demonstrated to our local people the opportunities available to them in navigation and piloting,” said Governor Benigno R. Fitial at the ceremony.

Marshalls’ Registry Recognized

International Registries, Inc. (IRI), the Maritime and Corporate Administrator of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, has received continued United States Coast Guard (USCG) Qualship 21 status for the third year running. This initiative provides rewards to complying ships, ranging from a two-year certificate of compliance for tankers with less thorough mid-period exams to two years of limited Port State Control (PSC) oversight for freighters. “By continuing to maintain our USCG Qualship 21 status, the benefits of flagging with the Marshall Islands continue to extend to shipowners, operators and charterers that are actively trading with the United States,” said Bill Gallagher, president of IRI.   With an average annual gross tonnage growth rate of 20 percent since 2001, the Marshall Islands Registry closed the second quarter with over 1,500 vessels at 36.2 million gross tons.


Air Tahiti Deficit ‘Smaller’

Air Tahiti Nui expects to finish 2007 with a deficit of US$5.78 million, predicts French Polynesia Government President Gaston Tong Sang. “The good news is that the results of the first semester of 2007 are better than the forecasts made,” he told La Dépêche de Tahiti.  During the first five months of this year, French Civil Aviation Office statistics show Air Tahiti Nui (ATN) remained Tahiti’s number one international airline, carrying 64 percent of all destination and transit passengers. The figures follow cuts to the airline’s Papeete-Sydney service and Los Angeles-Papeete-Auckland service. Meanwhile, ATN has a new board member, Yves Buhagiar, who represents the company Moana Nui.