The Sad Tale of the Manu'a Islands in American Samoa (SCASDP Week)
Sometimes when reading these Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) proposals, I can really get a sense of sadness or desperation from airports. None has given me that feeling more than the proposal for the Manu'a Islands in American Samoa. They're asking for so little yet the impact could be profound.
Fitiuta and Ofu airports in the Manu'a Islands are barebones operations, mostly because they are isolated. They lie 60 miles east of the main American Samoa island of Tutuila, and they serve only 1,400 residents alongside tourists. The unemployment rate in American Samoa is roughly 50 percent, and considering the massive earthquake and tsunami that rolled through last week, I imagine things are about to get much worse.
The only future bright spot for the Manu'a islands is tourism. There are two tourist lodges and a national park, but the less-than-daily service from current provider Inter Island Airways can't support much more. They would like to grow tourism, though the tsunami certainly has delivered them another setback so this will be difficult.
So what do they want? They want a mere $169,000 to buy ground equipment. This isn't replacement equipment - they have none today. Why do they need it? I'll let the proposal speak for itself.
Due the lack of a Ground Power Unit at these airports, airlines opted to run one engine during the turn-around flight operation at the Manu'a Islands. This single-engine turn around operation may take as long as 15 to 25 minutes. In the process, the fuel being consumed by the single engine that remains in operation may represent as much as 15% of the total fuel cost for the entire round trip. At today's operating costs for an engine (i.e., maintenance) and with the price of fuel at $2.80 per gallon, this equates to at least $125 per turn-around and increases as the price of fuel.Give them ground power and airline costs go down. They expect to at least get daily service from the current carrier due to the cost reduction that this could enable.
What else is in this plan? Eerily foreshadowing last week's disaster, the plan would also "provide emergency power to the airport vicinity in the event of natural disaster."
It's quite difficult to read this proposal without feeling some sympathy. It really is a small amount, and the impact could be tremendous.