Macau’s airport handled a record 8.26 million passengers last year, a 15 percent growth year-on-year, its operator announced Thursday.
According to a statement by the government majority-owned Macau International Airport Company (CAM), the number of aircraft movements (touchdowns and takeoffs) rose 12 percent to 65,000 last year.
The statement pointed out that last year 27 airlines connected Macau with 51 destinations in mainland China and Taiwan as well as several foreign countries in Asia, such as Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.
Destinations in mainland China accounted for some 31 percent of the airport’s passengers, according to the statement, which noted that the airport last year expanded its network by 10 new routes such as Sanya, Qingdao, Xian and Kunming on the mainland as well as Phuket and Krabi in Thailand, Kota Kanabalu in Malaysia, Taegu in South Korea, and Cebu in the Philippines.
The statement also underlined the launch of a charter flight service between Macau and Russia.
Last year, the airport drew six additional airlines: Small Planet Airlines, Royal Air Charter Service, Cambodia Airways, KC International Airlines, JSC Royal Flight Airlines, and Zhejiang Loong Airlines.
In the statement, CAM pledged to develop long-haul routes, e-commerce and a “virtual terminal”, and to continue expanding the capacity of its terminal building, which was designed for six million passengers.
The airport opened in 1995.
