Macau International Airport recorded 1.47 million passengers during the recent summer holiday period of July and August, a year-on-year increase of 28%, according to data from Macau International Airport Corporation Limited (CAM).
There were also 10,881 aircraft movements recorded during this period, up 30.2% year-on-year.
However, compared with July and August 2019, the number of passengers only recovered to about 82%. During the same period of the 2019, the number of passengers was 1,787,851 and the number of aircraft movements 13,825 for the same period in 2019.
CAM said that in the fourth quarter of this year, it is planning to organize roadshow events in the Greater Bay Area to promote more routes and related products. In October, Macau International Airport will launch a “Double Anniversary Celebration and Lucky Draw Campaign” to provide discounts and retail benefits for passengers.
At a meeting of the Macau Legislative Assembly held in mid-August, a legislator quoted government officials as saying that “the progress of passenger recovery at the airport has been relatively slow, with the number of nearly 1.8 million passengers in the first quarter of this year reaching only 77% of the same period in 2019.”
They added, “The government expects the airport’s passenger volume to increase by about 10% to 15% this year on the basis of 2023.”
As a result, the Macau government suspended its plan to convert part of the Taipa Ferry Terminal into the airport’s second terminal. The plan was proposed by the Macau government in April 2020 to attract more international travellers.
During the meeting, the legislators pointed out that “the current design capacity of the airport terminal can receive 10 million passengers per year, and government officials believe that the current capacity of the airport is sufficient to meet the current demand for air traffic.”