Passenger volume at Macau International Airport almost halved in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the airport operator.
Ma Iao Hang, the chair of the board of Macau International Airport Co. (CAM), told local media Thursday that the figures were the worst recorded during the three-year Covid-19 pandemic.
Data reported by the Portuguese news agency Lusa shows a 48% decrease in passenger volume to just under 600,000 and a 14% decline in aircraft movements. Cargo volume grew, however, by 6% to 51,400 tonnes.
As Macao emerges from the pandemic, airlines are gradually resuming services and adding new routes. Local carrier Air Macau is on track to resume flights to half of the 24 international routes it operated before the pandemic.
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Low-cost carrier Air Asia will resume its Macao-Bangkok route tomorrow followed by the resumption of services to Manila on 2 March.
Other operators are planning services to Haikou, Singapore, Jeju, Phnom Penh and the Maldives, TDM reported.
According to Lusa, CAM is making efforts to “promote the constant recovery of the international passenger market.”
Ma said that with the opening of the airport’s extension the facility would be able to handle 10 million passengers annually.
The market for meetings and conventions already began recovering in the last quarter of 2022. Figures released by the government yesterday show a total of 197 MICE events held in Macao in the quarter, an increase of 34 year-on-year. The number of participants rose by 35.7 per cent to 18,000.
Leisure tourism is also back. Macao welcomed nearly 1.4 million visitors in January, up 101.3 per cent year-on-year.
