‘Guam’ airport closed due to Typhoon ‘Mawar’… Round-trip flights and travel are completely suspended

‘Super Typhoon Mawar’ hit Guam, an island in the Pacific Ocean, and the local airport was closed, putting an emergency in the aviation and travel industry.

Currently, all flights to and from Guam have been canceled, and all travel products have been canceled. Above all, 3,200 Korean tourists visiting Guam are suffering great damage as they are stranded.

According to the industry on the 26th (local time), local authorities began to restore facilities after the typhoon passed, but it is expected that it will be difficult to restore the airport and resume operations before June 1st.

Korean Air canceled round-trip flights following the notice of the closure of the Guam runway. Korean Air, which flies to and from Guam twice a day, decided not to operate a total of six flights over three days from the 25th to the 26th and 27th. A Korean Air official said, “The future flight situation will be decided after observing the situation at the Guam airport.”

An official from Hana Tour also said, “Guam tours have been completely canceled until June 1 due to the Guam airport closure measures.”

Guam authorities said on their homepage the afternoon before, “We are currently not operating flights.” “Guam International Airport is operating an emergency coordination center and is in the process of recovery work, and in cooperation with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traffic control tower, humanitarian aid and cargo flights are currently being operated. has decided to accept it,” he said.

The typhoon swept through Guam, but it’s unclear when local airports will reopen. In the case of 3,200 Korean travelers currently tied to Guam, even if the airport opens on June 1, they must stay there for at least five more days.

Right now, Korean travelers are said to be experiencing major inconveniences in hotel use as well as power outages and water cuts. A famous Guam travel Internet cafe in Korea posted cases where some hotels refused to extend their stay and spent the night in a hotel lobby or banquet room. It is said that local residents who suffered damages such as houses destroyed by the typhoon come to the hotel and stay, and the hotel does not extend the stay of existing guests because the room is full.

One traveler said, “I put water in the bathtub, but the water doesn’t come out, so I can’t even wash my face and it’s so frustrating.”

In addition, since most local restaurants and stores are closed, there are also a series of posts asking which Korean mart is open to get food to feed the children. A traveler who came with her mother, who had a chronic illness, said that her mother had run out of her regular medications and asked where she could get them.

The travel industry is expanding compensation plans on a moral level. Modetour’s existing compensation plan related to additional local stays caused by natural disasters was ‘200,000 won per room, limited to one time’. However, in the case of Guam, considering the unusual situation, the compensation plan was expanded to ‘100,000 won per room per night, up to 900,000 won’.

Interpark also decided to pay full hotel accommodation costs (based on hotels of the same class) to travelers staying in Guam. Cancellation fees are waived for customers who have booked a Guam package product departing in early June and change the product to an alternative destination.

Typhoon Mawar, which hit Guam on the 24th and 25th, is a grade 4 (category 4) ‘super typhoon’ and was recorded as the strongest typhoon in decades among typhoons that have approached Guam.

A gust of wind of more than 241 km/h blew, causing power outages in a wide area as utility poles collapsed and power lines were cut.