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Lolo expects update from feds today on request for cabotage waiver

Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga is expected to be updated today by federal officials regarding air transportation issues for American Samoa, such as the administration’s plea for a cabotage waiver which would allow foreign airlines to operate in and out of Pago Pago carrying paid passengers to other U.S. airports.

 

U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas, Esther Kia’aina has called on DOI’s federal partners to understand the remoteness of the territory, which faces unique challenges.

 

Cabotage waiver was one of the issues the governor raised in a letter last November to Kia’aina, after she took over the post. Lolo appealed to Kia’aina for support in improving both domestic and international air service, which would not only boost tourism but aid economic development in American Samoa.

 

In his official State of the Territory Address, the governor said cabotage impediment has been articulated to Kia’aina and it is encouraging that there is genuine concern shown by the DOI’s Office of Insular Affairs. The governor also shared the same issue when Kia’aina was in the territory late last year.

 

Cabotage was mentioned at yesterday’s Interagency Group on Insular Areas meeting in Washington D.C. during the final remarks by U.S. Department of Transportation’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, Brandon Belford, who was on the Tourism Panel discussion.

 

Belford said there are a set of issues that the insular area officials are interesting in, such as “our rules on cabotage and access to markets” i.e. Europe and Mexico. He said his office has has been working with DOI and other stake holders to address some of those concerns and issues and he is more than happy to continue working with insular area officials on these issues.

 

Kia’aina says USDOT has “been excellent on working with us on an issue on American Samoa that has been long in the making. And I want to continue that dialogue.” She said that DOI was to update Lolo at a meeting today on the progress that has been made so far, and she thanked Belford and his department.

 

“I think what is evident… not only from this [IGIA] meeting and also what the governor [Lolo] has expressed at the National Governors Association meetings is that the applicability of certain federal laws across the board — in particular the territories — in the field of transportation, sometimes is a hinderance,” she pointed out.

 

She said every time there is a “window to try to amend” federal laws or regulation, “there is an uproar from a lot of the industries to just automatically clamp down.”

 

“We would like to work with all our federal agencies, to please understand the unique challenges facing the territories in the remoteness, and any flexibility that can be undertaken administratively or statutorily we’re committed to working with you on that end,” she told federal officials who attended the one-day IGIA meeting, which was streamed live on the internet.

 

A federally funded air transport market study for American Samoa says that cabotage restriction has strong support from large airlines and labor unions and is not about to be weakened, even for American Samoa, remote from the U.S. mainland. The study recommends American Samoa to work with the only large airline that flies to the Territory — Hawaiian Air — to try and “take practical steps” that would be good for both sides, which would include providing incentives for Hawaiian to increase the number of PPG flights and offer more promotional fares.