Passenger traffic handled by Macau’s air hub, Macau International Airport, rebounded to “approximately 80 percent” of 2019 pre-pandemic level for the first 10 months this year, said the facility’s operator in an update.
From January to October inclusive, the hub had 6.34 million passenger journeys, up 56.92-percent year-on-year, stated the airport operator, Macau International Airport Co Ltd, a body also known as CAM.
“At present, most [flight] routes disrupted by the [Covid-19] pandemic have been resumed, and some airlines have introduced wide-bodied aircraft to accommodate the rising passenger demand,” said CAM in a Friday statement.
Most air routes via the facility serve places in mainland China, according to the airport’s current flight timetable. Separate data from Macau’s Statistics and Census Service show most of the airport’s passengers are from the mainland.
From January to September, Macau’s airport logged 2.30 million visitor arrivals, with 68.7 percent of the total entering via mainland ID, show statistics bureau data.
A new “winter flight schedule” including fresh services – some from the city’s legacy carrier, Air Macau – is due in place, CAM mentioned in its Friday release. The winter flight schedule typically runs from the end of October, to the end of March the following year.
CAM stated: “Air Macau will increase its flights to Chongqing and Guiyang to five times per week, and the Nanning routes to four times per week.”
The airport company added regarding the winter timetable: [China’s] West Air plans to launch a new route from Lhasa city [Tibet Autonomous Region] via Chongqing to Macau.”
Lhasa is one of eight cities – with effect from May 27 – added to China’s Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), meaning independent travellers from there can apply for exit visas to travel to Macau or Hong Kong.
The mainland cities of Qingdao and Xi’an had been added to the IVS list with effect from March 6. Currently, out of 10 온라인카지노 places newly-added to the IVS list, Macau’s airport only serves Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province.
Non-mainland winter-timetable services include a new route from this month by Air Macau to Taichung in Taiwan, as well as more flights to Bangkok, Thailand, in December.
Low-cost airline Jeju Air also plans to resume a route between Macau and the South Korean holiday destination Jeju island, though the Macau airport operator’s update did not mention a date.