Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2023年7月 亞博匯 90 Air Macau has held Macau’s exclusive airline concession since 1995 澳門航空於1995年就獲得了為期25年的專營權。 FEATURES M acau is looking to establish itself as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, but has been criticized for the low capacity of, and lack of flights to and from, Macau International Airport (MIA), making it difficult to achieve the government’s goal of attracting more foreign visitation. Comparing figures before the outbreak of COVID-19, there were a total of 73,594 flight movements per year at MIA in 2019, of which 29,542 flights (40%) were to and from foreign countries – those being places other than mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In order to enhance its competitiveness, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (CAA) recently confirmed it would end the monopoly concession held by Air Macau at the end of 2023 and open MIA to competition. Air Macau was granted a lengthy 25-year concession back in 1995 but was informed in 2019 that its monopoly would expire in 2020. This saw a number of airlines, such as Air Asia, express interest in setting up headquarters in Macau to expand their aviation business before the pandemic gave Air Macau a reprieve via an extra three years on its lone concession. Now the CAA is pushing ahead with plans to liberalize the industry, including the introduction of a new Civil Aviation Bill. The Bill, already approved by the Legislative Assembly, provides for authorities to grant new 25-year licenses by way of public tender, with an order from the Chief Executive to determine how many licenses can be awarded. “Lifting the freedomof air can enhance the competitiveness of airline markets and would