Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Based on a written “plea” from Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga, who sought additional time for American Samoa to provide more Health Department units to quarantine arrival passengers, Hawaiian Airlines cancelled its flight on Monday, Mar. 23rd, between Honolulu and Pago Pago.

“My plea is for the cancellation of your Monday flight, Mar. 23rd, to give me a chance to complete the additional quarantine units to accommodate the overflow caused by Hawaiian Airlines passengers,” Lolo wrote to airline president and chief executive officer, Peter Ingram.

Currently, the only designated quarantine facility is the Leone Health Center, with only 12 units, while a construction crew are working to finish up renovation of the Veteran Memorial Center at the Tafuna Industrial Park to provide more quarantine space with 50-Army cots.

In his letter, the governor points out that the current 12-unit facility “will be grossly insufficient to accommodate the expected consequences resulting” from the implementation of his Emergency Declaration, which becomes effective Monday, Mar. 23rd.

“We are working feverishly to complete extra quarantine units, which we expect to be ready” by Thursday night’s Hawaiian flight from Honolulu, the governor wrote, adding that his “petition is restricted only” to the Mar. 23rd flight.

As of Friday morning, the Leone Health Center is now completely full, after more passengers from Hawaiian’s fight Thursday night (Mar. 19th) went into the required 14-day health quarantine. All those quarantine at this point at the Leone health clinic are Hawaiian arrival passengers.

ASG officials told Samoa News that renovation work at the VA Center in Tafuna was expected to be completed by Monday, Mar. 23rd, or Tuesday, Mar. 24th.

In a notice issued Thursday night, Hawaiian’s Pago Pago office announced the cancellation of the Mar. 23rd flight citing current measures implemented to combat the global coronavirus threat.

Hawaiian’s office in Honolulu told Samoa News that the request to cancel the Monday flight was based on a request from the governor and referred media inquiries to the governor’s office.

The flight on Thursday, Mar. 26th, will continue to operate with normal arrival and departure times.

For more information and details call the airline’s office in Pago Pago (684) 699-1875 and the airline encourages its guest to visit Hawaiian website [www.hawaiianairlines.com] for update information and more details especially with the COVIDd-19 issue.

More details in Monday’s edition.