Guam Airport seeks $17.7mn government bailout

By Andrew Curran.

Guam’s A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) will require a USD17.7 million government bailout, according to airport officials appearing this week before a legislative committee overseeing tourism and transportation.

Per the Guam Daily Post, Dafne Mansapit-Shimizu, Deputy Executive Manager of the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, which operates the airport, told the committee that there would be a USD10 million revenue shortfall in the 2026 financial year. The airport also requires a further USD7.7 million to meet obligations associated with Federal Aviation Administration grants.

“That will allow us to work towards meeting our bond indenture requirements and help prevent airline rates and charges from increasing,” Mansapit-Shimizu said.

Guam follows the standard United States federal financial year, which runs from October 1 to September 30.

Guam visitor numbers in long term decline

According to Guam Visitors Bureau data, GUM handled 508,825 passenger arrivals in the eight months to May 31, 2026. Most (45.5%) arrived from South Korea, followed by Japan (35.4%).

Overall, air arrivals were up 9.2% compared with the October 2024–May 2025 period. However, arrivals remain in long-term decline, down 68.1% compared with 2019 levels. The South Korean market has experienced the sharpest fall, declining by 80.2%.

There are several reasons for the downturn, including higher airfares on South Korea – Guam routes, a weaker South Korean currency and growing competition from destinations such as Thailand and Vietnam.

As demand has weakened, South Korean airlines have reduced capacity to Guam, both responding to and contributing to the decline.

Korean Air, Air Busan and Jin Air continue to operate flights between Seoul (ICN) and Guam, while Air Busan and Jin Air also serve Guam from Busan (PUS).

Other international airlines operating scheduled passenger services to Guam include United Airlines, Philippine Airlines, t’way Air and Japan Airlines.

In April, Philippine Airlines suspended its Clark (CRK)–Guam service.

Fewer flights and fewer passengers mean less revenue for the airport. Mansapit-Shimizu said the airport could recover the shortfall by increasing airline rates and charges. However, doing so would require fees to approximately double and would likely further discourage airlines from serving Guam.

“If tourism is Guam's number one industry, then the Legislature needs to support it and provide us the resources that we need to keep it moving forward,” Guam Visitors Bureau President and CEO Regine Biscoe Lee told the committee.

Guam’s tourism industry suffered another setback earlier this year when Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck the island.

Funding request receives mixed response from committee members

Committee members expressed mixed views on the funding request.

“Let us call it what it is: a bailout request caused, at least in part, by the failure to move enough passengers through our airport and rebuild visitor arrivals to the level Guam needs,” said Senator Jesse Lujan.

While the Guam Government has already allocated USD10 million this financial year to an airline incentive programme managed by the Guam Visitors Bureau, there are currently no plans to extend the funding into the 2027 financial year.

“We were assured that we're going to put passengers on those planes and they're going to spend their money and, therefore, that would trickle down to subsidise ... to fund those areas we didn't fund because we gave it to a very important entity to bring people in here,” Lujan said.

Lee said her agency was “very small” but doing “a ton of work”.

“I think in terms of return on investment, we're doing absolutely everything we can with the resources that we have,” she said.

“Destinations across Asia are competing harder than ever for these visitors. Against all of those conditions, Guam has restored more than half a million visitors so far this fiscal year while focusing on rebuilding service from our largest source market.

“We really see our responsibility not as recreating yesterday's market overnight, but as strengthening Guam's position every single month. We measure that month over month and year over year.”

Photo: AI-Generated.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com