Victor Consaga/For Pacific Daily News Eye toward the sky: Sky Blue Air charter service director of operations Gary Rouetto, left, and President/owner Joe Edhlund stand next to a newly painted logo on their King Air 90 executive turboprop aircraft yesterday. TO THE POINT Sky Blue Air will fly for the first time today as a certified charter airline. The Guam-based airline will be available for charter between Micronesian islands and will charge $950 an hour. WHOM TO CALL Sky Blue Air: 777-0006

Need to get to Saipan this afternoon but don't want to miss your Guam dinner date tonight?

If you're willing to dish out some money, you can just call Guam's new charter airline, Sky Blue Air, and you'll be to Saipan and back with time to spare for a shower and shave, as well.

The impact on your pocketbook? About $950 an hour.

Today, the airline's owner Joe Edhlund will fly the airline's first official flight as a Federal Aviation Administration-certified charter airline, carrying typhoon relief supplies to Ulithi Atoll and Yap, which were both slammed by last month's Typhoon Sudal.

The plane has been grounded in recent months while it waited for charter certification from the FAA. Last week, after two years of applications, supplications and many thousands of dollars of fees, travel costs and other expenses, the federal agency finally gave Sky Blue its official wings as a charter service, Edhlund said.

For now, the airline consists of just one aircraft and two pilots, but Edhlund said the airline may expand, depending on demand.

Edhlund's aircraft is a King Air 90 executive turboprop, which can carry up to seven passengers to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and six to other Micronesian islands.

"We will be available for charters to all of the islands in Micronesia, all the way from the (Marshall Islands) in the east and Palau in the West, and also we'll be available for business charter, for someone who absolutely, positively has to go to Saipan right now, and absolutely, positively has to be back in Guam in an hour, we can handle that kind of transportation," he said.

"It's a tremendously useful business tool -- not cheap, but useful."

In addition to transporting people for urgent business matters, another reason to charter the might just be a night of fun, he said.

"If you and your friends want to go to Tinian for a Friday night in the casino, we could take you there at 8 and bring you home at (3 a.m.). ... We could handle that," he said.

Opportunities

Not only will the airline be available at the drop of a hat to fly anywhere in Micronesia, it also will be available for small groups who are looking to explore this corner of the Pacific, Edhlund said.

He's hoping his charter service can help bring development opportunities to the outer islands of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Edhlund acknowledged he has some concerns about how development can affect the relatively pristine cultures of some outer islands, but he said that helping those small islands develop a tourism economy also is important.

"The people of outer island Yap and Chuuk states are currently in a depopulation situation because the young people look away for opportunity," he said. "For example, the island of Sorol in Yap is now completely depopulated. ... It's the lesser of two evils to bring development to them, because it's either that or having them leave home to find the opportunity."

Emergencies

The airline also can be utilized to help transport people in emergency medical situations to and from islands.

Or, for example, if there's a serious oil spill in one of the islands, the airline might be chartered to carry out an emergency mitigation team, Edhlund said.

Edhlund, who has a veterinary practice on Guam, said his personal motivation for starting the airline was that it allowed him to meld the loves of his life.

"I love to fly, I love to be in the outer islands and I also enjoy being in Guam and running my veterinary practice," he said. "This is the only way we can do all of these things."

Originally published Monday, May 3, 2004