Covid-19 cripples Macao aviation industry

Commercial flights have dropped by more than 80 per cent according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) – and there is not much hope of the aviation industry taking off in the near future.

 Flights in and out of Macao declined by 81.4 per cent to 13,676 last year, the DSEC announced on Thursday.

Last month, 1,117 commercial flights landed at and took off from the airport, a year-on-year drop of 82.9 per cent.

Macao’s aviation sector has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic since early last year. The sector’s performance has slowly improved since September’s resumption of the central government’s Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) for all mainlanders to travel to Macao.

The local government admitted late last year that it was not able to predict how long the “very difficult” time for Macao’s civil aviation sector would last amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to the DSEC’s transport and communications statistics for last month, the number of licensed motor vehicles in Macao stood at 244,110 at the end of last year, up by 1.4 per cent year-on-year.

(The Macau Post Daily/Macao News)
Photo by Macau Photo Agency