Airport to replace runway, prepare for long-haul flights

The Macau International Airport Company (CAM) plans to replace its runway surface to better handle heavier airplanes, such as those intended for long-haul flights.
CAM announced that it has begun preparing the airport for airplanes capable of long-
haul flights. The preparations have included launching a tender to resurface the airport’s only runway “to account for more damaging aircraft traffic,” as well as extending the safety areas at the end of the runway.
The company wants the runway to be able to handle aircraft like the Boeing 747-400, which weighs up to seven tonnes and can carry 660 passengers. Once it is equipped to deal with this kind of airplane, the new runway should be able to handle 100,000 landings and take-offs during a 20-year period, the organization said.
The resurfacing works will take place at night so as not to impact the airport’s daily operations. The proposed extension of safety areas could start as early as 2017 in order to satisfy recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organization.
In addition, the airport launched construction works last week to extend the passenger terminal building. CAM believes that the extension will allow the airport to expand its passenger capacity from 6 million to 7.8 million passengers per year.
The company says that the superstructure and façade will be ready by the end of next year, but the rest of the work will take longer.
The expansion plans come shortly after flag carrier Air Macau revealed that there was insufficient demand for long-haul flights in Macau. The company’s chairman, Zheng Yan, said that the domestic aviation market was still too small to accommodate wide-body airplanes, some of which have more than 600 seats.