Civil Aviation Authority of Macau approves additional flights for CNY

On Friday, the Macau Civil Aviation Authority said that 134 more flights, including charter and commercial airline services, had been permitted for the dates of February 3–23.

These were additional flights to the ones that were previously scheduled at that same time. Out of the 87 more flights, over 65 percent are scheduled to connect Macau with locations in Taiwan or mainland China.

The aviation authorities claim that in order to accommodate the demand for travel over the Chinese New Year (CNY) vacation season, an increase in aircraft capacity was required. It did not, however, specify the number of flights that were originally approved for the dates of February 3 through February 23.

Mainland This year, from February 10 to February 17, Macau will celebrate the Lunar calendar-based Chinese New Year, which is marked by the greatest influx of visitors from China.

54 additional flights, or around 40% of the total, will serve locations in and around Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Wuxi. Of the 134 flights, 33 will go to Taipei in Taiwan, making up over 25% of the total.

Additional flights are being operated from Bangkok, Thailand (20 flights), Hanoi, Vietnam (14 flights), and Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2 flights) during this period.

In addition, 11 more charter flights were approved by the Civil Aviation Authority for the Pacific island state of Palau between February 3 and February 23, which makes up over 8% of the 134 new flights.

Among the airlines that increased their flight schedule in February were Air Macau, Juneyao Air, Shenzhen Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Sky Angkor Airlines, and Cambodia Airways. The Palau charters will be operated by Cambodia Airways.

The air hub operator of Macau, Macau International Airport Co Ltd (CAM), said in a press release on Friday that the airport would accommodate 110,000 passenger trips and 860 flights between February 10 and 14, which coincides with the first five days of the Chinese New Year vacation. This translates to an average of around 22,000 passengers per day, with a high of up to 24,000 passengers in a single day over the Christmas season anticipated.

Rather of lasting eight days, the Chinese New Year fell in February in 2019. Over 1,300 aircraft operations and 180,000 passengers were handled by Macau’s airport between February 5 and February 10, 2019, which are the first six days of the vacation season, according to CAM figures.

There are now 26 airlines operating 43 different flight schedules out of Macau’s airport. Of these routes, 53% originate from mainland China, 3 are served by Taiwan, and around 40% are headed overseas.

Original story by: GGRAsia