Continental

Air Services

Continental cutbacks worry Marshall Islands

By Giff Johnson

Continental

Micronesia’s announce ment of a reduction in an already reduced flight schedule for its Micronesian “island hopper” service sent reverberations through the north Pacific region.

The mainstay for travellers in the region since it first flew into the islands in 1968, Continental is the carrier connecting the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia with Hawaii and Guam.

“Continental’s cutback is threatening the very lifeline of tourism in the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia,” said Guam Governor Carl T.

C. Gutierrez. But, say top Continental Micronesia officials, the airline’s plan to eliminate one of three weekly “island hop per” flights is a bottom-line decision.

It, they say, is motivated by financial considerations and a revamp of Continental’s service focusing on develop ing Guam, in the western end of Micronesia, as its Pacific/Asia hub.

Nevertheless, the cutback, originally announced to take effect on April 1, has been delayed until September at the earli est, allowing Micronesian governments some breathing room to address problems that are causing the airline to cut back.

Wally Dias, Continental Micronesia’s Guam-based vice president for sales and promotion, says while the airline will defi nitely move ahead with the “island hopper” service reduction, the plan includes moves that will improve air services to the Marshall Islands and FSM. Until 1995, Continental provided four weekly “island hopper” flights, when the service was trimmed to three.

A key point in Continental’s schedule overhaul is the development of Guam into a hub for the western part of Micronesia and Asia - a move that is expected to increase the availability of seats to Marshalls’ travellers, while encouraging Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae passengers to fly west via Guam to get to Honolulu in the east, according to Dias.

The “island hopper” route links Majuro, Kwajalein, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Chuuk

with Honolulu and Guam. Under the new system, flights from Chuuk and Pohnpei to Guam will be timed to coincide with non stop Guam-Honolulu flights in an effort to encourage Micronesian passengers to trav el to Honolulu through Guam, instead of on the “island hopper”. Continental is also looking at the possibility of providing a Honolulu-Majuro-Honolulu flight to sup plement the two weekly “island hoppers”, he said.

While Continental is reducing its ser vice by one-third, it anticipates that the cut will amount to just a 14 percent drop in the number of seats because of the new Guam hub system, and the fact that under the new schedule, both Honolulu-bound flights can stop at Johnston Island for refuelling at the US military installation, increasing the available cargo and passenger loads the air

line’s 727 s can carry.

Currently, only four flights each week can stop at Johnston because of military restrictions on fuel availability. Since the three westbound flights out of Honolulu face strong headwinds and must stop to refuel at Johnston, two of the three weekly eastbound cannot stop there, substantially

reducing passenger loads on those flights to Honolulu.

Part of Continental’s problem, Dias said, is that the Federal Aviation Administration revised the average passenger weight calculation upward and increased the reserve fuel required to be carried on board planes in 1996.

“This affected the amount of weight we could carry and also required that we carry an additional 3,000 pounds of fuel,” Dias said.

“These two factors cause us to go beyond the weight limits if we have a full load and can’t stop at Johnston.”

Unpredictable weather conditions often add

more weight restrictions, he said.

“It drives customers crazy because we deny boarding in Majuro (for Honolulu) when there are 50 empty seats on board.

It’s hard to explain the situation to passen gers.” During peak travel months of June through August and December it is not unusual for dozens of passengers holding confirmed tickets to be bumped off flights in Majuro because of weight restrictions and heavy bookings.

“The ‘island hopper’ is very challeng ing to operate,” Dias said. “It’s one of the unique routes in the world of aviation”.

Micronesian leaders plan to fly to Houston, Texas to meet top Continental executives in late May or June, Marshalls Foreign Minister Phillip Muller said. The leaders’ initiative came out of the Micronesian Chief Executives meeting held in Christmas Island, Kiribati in April and is an effort to get Continental to maintain its service.

The Marshall Islands has begun lobby ing US officials, including the Department of Defence and Transportation, to get sup port for increased Johnston refuelling for Continental, Muller said. ■

Continental’s plan to reduce the island-hoppers service has sent shock-waves throughout the Marshalls.