Century Tours sues Commonwealth Ports Authority for negligence

Steven Pixley

Century Tours Inc, a business that offers charter flights from China to Saipan, has sued the Commonwealth Ports Authority for negligence and carelessness in maintaining its emergency vehicles which caused the company to incur the expense of taking in stranded tourists.

Century Tours Inc., through attorney Steven P. Pixley, is asking the court for relief in damages amounting to $149,044, costs and other relief as the court deems just and proper.

In its lawsuit, Century Tours said the Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for ensuring that the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport complies with federal regulations governing airport safety and emergency response operations including Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting or ARFF requirements.

Under ARFF regulations, the  Federal Aviation Administration requires commercial airport operators to develop plans and procedures to respond to aircraft accidents, fires and hazardous materials incidents.

The plaintiff said on Aug. 21, 2015, the CPA through its executive director notified Century Tours that one of the aircraft firefighting rescue trucks operated and maintained by the CPA was not operational.

Century Tours said the  Federal Aviation Administration has strict mandatory rules regarding the availability of fire and rescue trucks at commercial airports for emergencies and as a commercial operator, and CPA was aware of these requirements.

One truck unavailable caused the airport to temporarily stop the landing and takeoff of jets that had a wing span exceeding 159 feet.

The plaintiff said the charter airline flights it manages are operated by Sichuan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines which both operate Airbus 330 aircraft with wing spans that exceed 159 feet.

As a result of the airport downgrade, the Airbus 330 aircraft was unable to operate at the Saipan airport.

 Century Tours, which was responsible for many Chinese tourists who were visiting Saipan and who were scheduled to return to China on charter flights, had to provide accommodations and feed the stranded tourists at various hotels on Saipan at the company’s expense.

The plaintiff said it was the duty of the CPA to comply with the ARFF regulations and that CPA owed a duty of care that these emergency vehicles were properly maintained to permit operations at the airport and ensure the safety of airline passengers. The plaintiff said CPA breached this duty of care.  

In addition, the plaintiff said, CPA was negligent and careless in that it failed to properly maintain the emergency truck which was not operational because of problems with its steering mechanism.

CPA, the plaintiff added, also failed to ensure that the parts were reasonably available to properly maintain the truck; failed to comply with the ARFF regulations; and failed to make regular and frequent inspections of the ARFF equipment to ensure that the equipment remained fully operational.

CPA was given 20 days upon receipt of the summons to answer the complaint. Failure to do so would mean judgment by default will be taken against the defendant for the relief demanded in the complaint.

- Source:  http://www.mvariety.com