A meeting yesterday between Macao and Hong Kong’s Portuguese Consul and Hong Kong aviation representatives has sparked fears that the Portuguese government has abandoned hopes of setting up a direct Macao-Lisbon air link in favour of one that connects the Portuguese capital with Hong Kong.
According to a Facebook post published yesterday by the Consulate-General of Portugal in Macao and Hong Kong, the Portuguese consul general, Alexandre Leitão, held a meeting with the CEO of Hong Kong International Airport, Vivian Cheung, and other senior air officials “to address matters of mutual interest.”
The gathering has fuelled speculation that Hong Kong is actively looking to develop a direct Hong Kong-Lisbon air route, especially as the meeting was also attended by Hong Kong airport’s general manager and manager of route development.
Luso_Macau, a social media account specialising in the analysis of Macao and Portuguese bilateral relations, noted in a post yesterday that there were a number of reasons for why Hong Kong wanted to establish an air link with Portugal.
It pointed out that with Hong Kong airport’s three-runway system coming into full operation, the city needed to urgently fill a gap for long-haul flights to the west coast of Europe.
As well, Luso_Macau argued that Portugal’s national carrier, TAP, had reached a critical juncture in its bid to privatise, attracting interest from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM or Air France. A takeover from these carriers would mean TAP becoming part of a global airline alliance in the future, which would be beneficial to Hong Kong airport if it established a direct connection with Lisbon.
Another major motivator relates to the current construction of the Lisbon Luís de Camões Airport in Alcochete. The future airport is expected to ramp up capacity for more flights, ensuring that more direct air services between Hong Kong and Portugal can be arranged in the future.
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At the same time, Luso_Macau highlighted the reasons why a Hong Kong-Lisbon air route was more preferable to a Macao-based one, in spite of Macao’s historic ties with Portugal and repeated calls from Macao’s public and private sector for the air link to be restored over the years.
It noted that Macao currently lacks wide-body aircrafts such as A350 needed for ultra-long haul service. From a business standpoint, airlines are also more inclined to choose Hong Kong’s airport, which has a wider source of customers and more comprehensive facilities.
Similarly, integration within the Greater Bay Area (GBA) has meant that it is becoming more convenient for Macao passengers to fly directly to Portugal from Hong Kong.
Based on its analysis, Luso_Macau predicted that a Hong Kong-Lisbon route would be realised within the next two years, serving as an important step for Hong Kong to reclaim its leadership spot in the European aviation network in the post-Covid-19 era.
It also predicted that the aviation companies would use Hong Kong as a base for all passengers travelling between Portugal and the Pearl River Delta region, including Macao, Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Shenzhen, as this currently made the most economic sense.
Flights between Macao and Lisbon were in operation between 1996 and 1998, with the service making a stop in Brussels, before later changing the stop to Bangkok. However, they were later terminated due to operation inefficiencies and losses of roughly 200 million patacas (21.1 million euros).
Last year, Leitão expressed his frustration to the Portuguese government over the fact that the SAR’s inaugural and only direct cargo route with Europe was with Spain rather than Portugal.
