Saipan International Airport

Saipan International Airport (IATA: SPN, ICAO: PGSN, FAA LID: GSN), also known as Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport, is a public airport located on Saipan Island in the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The airport is owned by Commonwealth Ports Authority.[1] Its airfield was previously known as Aslito (during the Japanese South Seas Mandate) and Isely Field (during the American World War II and later period).

Saipan International Airport

Francisco C. Ada Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCommonwealth Ports Authority
LocationSaipan, Northern Mariana Islands
Elevation AMSL215 ft / 66 m
Coordinates15°07′08″N 145°43′46″E
Websitecpa.gov.mp/spnapt.asp
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
7/25 8,700 2,652 Asphalt
6/24 7,001 2,134 Asphalt
Statistics (2005)
Aircraft operations39,542
Based aircraft22
Saipan International Airport (far background), photographed from the top of Mount Tapochau.

This airport is assigned a three-letter location identifier of GSN by the Federal Aviation Administration, but the International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code is SPN (the IATA assigned GSN to Mount Gunson Airport in Australia).[1][2][3][4]

History

World War II

Saipan International Airport was a sugarcane field before the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) constructed a temporary landing field on the site in 1933. The landing field was used for training purposes and had two runways configured in an "L" pattern. In 1937, the Navy began upgrading the airfield for full military use, despite an international law ban on constructing military facilities within the South Seas Mandate. Following the attack against the United States in 1941, the field was named Aslito Field (アスリート飛行場), based on the indigenous Chamoru name for the area of its location, As Lito.

The IJNAS assigned two squadrons of Mitsubishi A6M5a-52 Zeros to the airfield in mid-June 1944. These squadrons took part in the occupation of the Mariana Islands during the Battle of the Philippine Sea later that month, being almost wiped out by the American forces during the battle.

The airfield was captured by the United States Army 27th Infantry Division on June 18, 1944 during the Battle of Saipan. During the battle, a Zero from Guam actually landed at Aslito Airfield, the pilot being unaware that the field was under American control. As it landed, the aircraft was fired at and damaged, crashing at the end of the runway. The pilot survived and the plane was captured. The field was renamed Isely Field after United States Navy Commander Robert H. Isely who was killed on June 13, 1944, while strafing the base.[5]

Once in American hands, Isely Field was quickly repaired and expanded by Seabees of the 3rd Battalion 20th Marines[6] with the first P 47s of the 19th fighter Squadron landing on the 20th. The airfield was assigned to Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortress operations. The XXI Bomber Command had overall responsibility of the B-29 operations out of the Marianas bases, and Isely Field was to be used by the 73rd Bombardment Wing (which consisted of the 497th, 498th, 499th, and 500th Bombardment Groups).[7]

On October 12, 1944 the first B-29 Joltin Josie The Pacific Pioneer piloted by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell commanding General of XXI Bomber Command and copiloted by Major Jack J Catton of the 873d Bombardment Squadron arrived at Isely Field. By November 22, over 100 B-29s were at Isely. The XXI Bomber Command was assigned the task of destroying the aircraft industry of Japan in a series of high-altitude, daylight precision attacks.

After several months of disappointing high level bombing attacks from Isely (and the other Twentieth Air Force airfields on Guam and Tinian), General Curtis LeMay, Commander of Twentieth Air Force issued a new directive that the high-altitude, daylight attacks be phased out and replaced by low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at nighttime, being followed up with high explosive bombs once the targets were set ablaze. These nighttime attacks on Japan proved devastatingly effective, and the Superfortress missions from Isely Field led to massive destruction of industrial targets in Japan, with large industrial areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka being repeatedly attacked by waves of American bombers flying from the Marianas until the war's end. In response to these attacks, most of the Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands between November 1944 and January 1945 targeted Isely Field.

The airfield and surviving World War II facilities were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as the "Isely Field Historic District", and are a contributing element of the National Historic Landmark District Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isely Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, which was designated in 1985.

Postwar

With the end of the war the wing's four bomb groups were all returned to the United States, with their B-29s either being flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for scrapping, or were flown to storage facilities in Texas or Arizona. The 73d Bomb Wing was reassigned to the United States in December 1945. The airfield was returned to civil control and it reverted to being called Aslito Field.

Saipan International Airport commenced operation on July 25, 1976 taking over from the nearby Kobler Field.[8] Continental Micronesia (originally Air Micronesia)[9] initially had its main hub at Kobler Field and then Saipan Airport. As time passed, the airline's general traffic to and from Saipan had decreased due to the breakup of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; because the territory was subdivided into smaller political units, fewer people needed to travel to Saipan, the former capital of the trust territory.[10] On July 15, 2008, the airline's Manila-Saipan flight, the final remaining Continental Micronesia directly-operated flight, ended.[11]

Japanese tourists began visiting Saipan in large numbers during the 1970s. The airfield and terminal were significantly upgraded in 1975 to handle widebody aircraft.

Northwest Airlines historically served Saipan from Tokyo-Narita using McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Boeing 747 aircraft,[12] while Japan Airlines (JAL) served Saipan from Narita and Osaka-Kansai using DC-10 and Boeing 767 aircraft respectively.[13] In 2005, JAL suspended its services from Japan to SPN; routes to Osaka and Nagoya were taken over by Northwest.[14] The airport was also renamed after former Lt. Gov. Francisco C. Ada that year.[15]

Delta Air Lines inherited Northwest's Saipan routes following its acquisition of Northwest in 2008. In 2018, Delta decided to withdraw from the Saipan market, simultaneously with terminating its service to Palau and one month after ending its service to Guam. Delta cited lower demand, as well as needs for additional Boeing 757 aircraft on domestic US flights, as reasons for the withdrawal. Northwest and Delta served Saipan for a total of 29 years.[16]

Skymark Airlines began flights to Saipan in 2019 using Boeing 737s from Narita.[17]

Accidents and incidents
  • A Star Marianas plane crashed during takeoff on November 17, 2012 on its return from Tinian. One person was confirmed dead.[18][19]

Facilities and aircraft
Passenger terminal

Saipan International Airport covers an area of 734 acres (297 ha) which contains two paved runways: (7/25) measures 8,700 x 200 ft (2,652 x 61 m); (6/24) measures 7001 x 100 ft (2134 x 30 m).[1]

For 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 39,542 aircraft operations, an average of 108 per day: 61% air taxi, 19% general aviation, 18% scheduled commercial and 1% military.[1]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger
AirlinesDestinations
Asiana Airlines Seoul–Incheon
Seasonal: Osaka–Kansai
Beijing Capital Airlines Hangzhou[20]
China Eastern Airlines Beijing–Capital
HK Express Hong Kong[21]
Jeju Air Busan,[22] Seoul–Incheon[23]
Skymark Airlines Tokyo–Narita[24]
Star Marianas Air Guam, Rota, Tinian
T'way Airlines Seoul–Incheon[25]
United Airlines Guam[26]

Statistics

Top destinations
Busiest domestic routes from SPN (Oct 2016 – Sep 2017)[27]
Rank City Passengers Top carriers
1 Guam 51,940 Star Marianas, United
2 Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands 30,520 Star Marianas
3 Rota, Northern Mariana Islands 12,610 Star Marianas, United

See also

Sources
  •  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
  • Dorr, Robert F. B-29 Units of World War II. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-84176-285-7
  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  • Peacock, Lindsay. "Boeing B-29...First of the Superbombers". Part One. Air International, August 1989, Vol 37 No 2. ISSN 0306-5634. pp. 68–76, 87.
  • Rust, Kenn C. Twentieth Air Force Story...in World War II. Temple City, California: Historical Aviation Album, 1979. ISBN 0-911852-85-9.
  • www.pacificwrecks.com

References
  1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for GSN PDF, retrieved 2007-03-15
  2. "Airline and Airport Code Search". International Air Transport Association (IATA). Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  3. "Saipan International (IATA: SPN, ICAO: PGSN, FAA: GSN)". Great Circle Mapper. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  4. "Mount Gunson Airport (IATA: GSN, ICAO: YMGN)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  5. Hammel, Eric (January 22, 2010). Air War Pacific: Chronology: America’s Air War Against Japan in East Asia and the Pacific, 1941–1945. Pacifica, California: Pacifica Military History. p. 383. ISBN 1890988103.
  6. Saipan, Building the Navy's Bases in World War II, History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps, 1940-1946, Volume II, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, 1947, p.340
  7. Peacock Air International August 1989, p. 87.
  8. "History". Commonwealth Ports Authority. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  9. "GAO-10-778T Issues Raised by the Proposed Merger of United and Continental Airlines." Government Accountability Office. Page 4. Retrieved on October 7, 2010.
  10. Vergara, Jaime R. "Celebrating the de-inauguration of CO 895." (Opinion page) Saipan Tribune. Monday July 21, 2008. Retrieved on October 13, 2010.
  11. Deposa, Moneth G. Continental shuts down Saipan office." Marianas Variety News & Views. July 17, 2008. Retrieved on February 25, 2009.
  12. "Northwest's B747 flies to Saipan". Saipan Tribune. October 4, 1999. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  13. "Japan Airlines to close Northern Marianas office at month's end". Radio New Zealand. October 25, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Cabrera, Bea (February 8, 2018). "Delta to end flights to Saipan, Palau". Saipan Tribune. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  17. "Skymark to offer Tokyo service to Saipan and Palau". Nikkei Asian Review. June 20, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  18. Administrator. "BREAKING NEWS: Plane crash at Saipan International Airport". Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  19. Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, "1 killed in Saipan plane crash," Pacific Daily News, November 20, 2012, http://www.guampdn.com/article/20121120/NEWS01/211200301/1-killed-Saipan-plane-crash?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage
  20. http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/273568/beijing-capital-adds-saipan-service-from-july-2017/
  21. "HK Express schedules Guam / Saipan debut in W16". Routesonline. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  22. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/281719/jeju-air-w18-saipan-service-changes-as-of-27nov18/
  23. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/281557/jeju-air-saipan-service-changes-from-late-nov-2018/
  24. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/287136/skymark-adds-tokyo-saipan-service-from-late-nov-2019/
  25. "T'Way plans Saipan launch in Dec 2016". routesonline. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  26. https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018/04/16/united-change-flights-between-guam-and-saipan-june-1/519347002/
  27. "RITA | BTS | Transtats". Transtats.bts.gov. May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017.


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