Macau airlines launch new routes

Direct flights to Macau are growing rapidly with the latest announcement of new routes by the two premier low-cost carriers serving the city.

Viva Macau has just launched a new thrice-weekly service to Pusan, South Korea and on August 15 will start flying to Sydney three times a week. Air Asia will also launch a new service on August 24 to Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Viva Macau flies to Pusan three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The first flight took off on July 22.

Con Korfiatis, Viva Macau’s Chief Executive, says of the new route: “We foresee a significant increase in Korean tourists in Macau, Asia’s hotspot that continues to receive enormous attention around the world. Pusan is the start of our various routes that are expected to launch in the coming months. Sydney will start next month, and the rest like Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila (Clark), and Phuket will follow.

Viva Macau announced the launch of its Sydney flights in early July, offering an introductory fare of MOP 1,555 one way for economy class and MOP 7,350 one way for business class. Promotional fares for the Pusan flight start from MOP 888 one way.

According to the Macau Civil Aviation Institute, Macau’s LCCs take a 17 per cent slice of total passenger movement at the Macau International Airport, up 12.7 per cent over last year. The first LCC to make its mark in Macau was Air Asia, which launched its first flight to Kuala Lumpur in July 2004.

On August 24, Air Asia will add yet another route to its Macau portfolio, flying to Malaysia’s Johor Bahru, next to the border crossing with Singapore, with promotional fares starting from MOP 188.

According to official estimates, Macau’s air passenger traffic grew by 17 per cent in the first six months of this year over the same period in 2006. The airport handled 2.68 million passengers in the first half of 2007 with Taiwan accounting for 47.3 per cent of the total. Mainland China came in second with a 29 per cent rise to 778,400, as was reported in the Macau Post Daily yesterday, July 25.

Neighboring Hong Kong, in comparison, enjoyed passenger growth of 6.4 per cent to 22.7 million for the first six months of this year, according to Hong Kong International Airport statistics.