The operator of Macau International Airport has received enquiries from Thailand’s Really Cool Airlines, which wants to set up a new service between the SAR and the Southeast Asian nation. Carriers from Nepal and Sri Lanka are also interested in setting up charter flights from their respective countries, GGR Asia reports.
The Macau International Airport Company (known by its Portuguese initials, CAM) said the South Asian airlines were hoping to start services during the fourth quarter of this year.
Besides Macao, the brand new Really Cool Airlines hopes to launch routes to Japan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and Georgia in the second half of 2024.
CAM also announced that February saw the second-highest volume of passengers pass through the airport since the Covid-19 pandemic put a chokehold on travel in early 2020. That number “exceeded 600,000,” according to CAM, but was less than last August’s total of almost 603,000.
[See more: Where can I fly to from Macao? Here’s a list of places you can reach directly]
Average passenger volume per month in 2023 came in at just 429,000 – with only July, August and December surpassing the 550,000 mark, according to CAM’s data. The company attributed this February’s upswing to the Lunar New Year holiday, which saw a massive influx of tourists.
Earlier this year, CAM’s marketing director, Eric Fong, said he expected passenger volumes to grow by up to 15 percent in 2024. However, the anticipated total of 5.92 million passengers at most will still fall far short of the pre-pandemic total of 9.61 million passengers, posted in 2019.
The airport currently handles 25 different airlines that service various destinations in Asia.
