Guam - Soon there may be a new airline on Guam focused on the Guam brand. If everything goes as planned the new airline called Fly Guam will offer routes to and from some of the major cities in Asia. Their goal is to get more tourists from asia to travel to Guam.
In a few years the island of Guam may have an airline specifically tailored to the island of Guam. Fly Guam is the name of the new airline. Hong Kong based World Aviation inc. is investing money into the locally owned Freedom Air to create the Fly Guam brand. This will be the first airline to focus specifically on the island of Guam as a brand. Fly Guam CEO Jeffrey Stern explains what world aviation inc. does as a company. "We find niche markets in the aviation industry and we invest in them whether it's cargo whether it's passengers," said Stern.
So Guam is the new niche market that world aviation is investing in.
It appears to be a pretty hefty investment as the idea is to bring in a total of six 737 passenger planes to service routes from Asia to Guam. These planes will be tailor made to Guam complete with paintings of scenic pictures of Guam on the planes' tails. The planes will also feature an aqua colored interior designed to mimic Guam's beautiful waters. They'll even have in-flight magazines to tell passengers all about the Beauty of Guam. Their goal is to entice more visitors from Asia. Their plan is to have routes run at least three times a week to Japan, Manila, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. They are hoping that Guam will get a visa waiver for Chinese tourists but Stern says they can still do business without it. "We think that there is a tremendous opportunity for Guam and the Mariana islands with the Chinese the mainland Chinese and it's to the great advantage of these islands to have the waiver program but if it doesn't happen we'll work around it we're not concentrating on that," said Stern.
If Guam doesn't get a Visa-Waiver for Mainland China, Stern says they can still make money off their routes to the Philippines, Hong Kong and some secondary routes to Japan. World Aviation Inc. has only been in business for 2 and a half years but Stern says it's also a subsidiary of Western Associates a Japanese company that has been in business since 1982. Their local partner Freedom Air has been in business for 35 years. Fly Guam hopes to get airborn by the end of the year starting with two 737 jets.
Then by 2013 they hope to up that number to six planes. "The reason why we're here so many months ahead is because the worst thing an airline can do is wait until the last minute to announce that they're flying and that they're desperate for passengers they start throwing the prices down and within months they have no cash flow and no money to run the business," said Stern.
Right now Fly Guam is working on getting all the proper permits and clearances from the Department of Transportation. Stern says they should announce their routes and flight schedules within another 30 to 60 days. "Once we're airborne we invite everybody that's watching this to come and join us. I think you'll be impressed and you'll feel very proud to see the Chammorro culture on board our planes." While Fly Guam will operate 737's the propeller planes from Freedom Air will also still be in operation.
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