BIKINI ATOLL, Marshall Islands (5 Oct 2007) Domestic air service woes have cost Bikini Atollıs scuba dive business $100,000 in losses since August, report officials with the dive business. In mid-August, all Air Marshall Islands planes were grounded, stranding a group of Australian, American and European divers at Bikini who had to be evacuated by the country's marine patrol vessel. While the airline resumed service in September, Bikini suffered numerous dive cancellations when news of the stranded divers spread. And this week, problems with the airline caused a two-day delay in transporting divers to and from the dive location, resulting in further losses. Bikini is a high-profile dive site, with a fleet of World War II-era American and Japanese naval vessels on the lagoon floor. The USS Saratoga, said to be the worldıs only aircraft carrier in waters shallow enough for diving, is a prime attraction. The fleet was sunk by the second post-World War II nuclear test at Bikini in 1946. "We were completely sold out from August to November," said Bikini Atoll Dive official Jack Niedenthal. Since the August stranding of the divers at Bikini, there have been 27 cancellations of fully paid reservations, costing Bikini about $60,000. On top of this, Bikini has already refunded about $40,000 to divers who flew to the Marshall Islands but could not get to Bikini to dive during August and September because of airline's plane woes, he said. The $100,000 lost is "about 20 percent of our revenue for the year," Niedenthal said. Scuba divers planning to fly to Bikini this week had their plans temporarily derailed again by Air Marshall Islands, which cancelled the regular Wednesday flight because its pilot crew had flown the maximum hours allowed for the week. Then Thursday, the single plane operating was grounded for maintenance. The Czechoslovakian and Dutch divers finally left Friday morning--but at further cost to Bikiniıs dive operation, which is giving the group an extra week of free diving to make up for the days lost this week. "We want to keep everyone happy," Niedenthal said. The cancellations and delays "really damage our reputation even though it is not our fault." | | Trouble with Air Marshall Islands has forced cancellations and refunds to dive travelers amounting to about $100,000, which is 20 percent of total annual scuba-related revenue. The national airline has been struggling since early August, when a pilotıs error resulted in an engine being over-heated prior to take off, causing one of its two planes to be down for nearly a month while it organized a rental engine to replace the one needing off-island maintenance. Two weeks after this engine incident, on August 18, the airline's only other plane was also grounded with an engine problem. Five weeks later, it is still in the hangar going through extended maintenance. Most scuba divers reserve and pay for their Bikini dive packages well in advance, so it is difficult to fill the 27 openings quickly, particularly with the news of the ongoing AMI plane service problems, Niedenthal said. "Weıre already taking reservations for Bikini for 2009," Niedenthal said. Bikini first opened its dive program in 1996. SOURCE - Pacific MagazineSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
