Extra flights to cope with CNY

A total of 73 extra and charter flights have been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao (AACM) to cope with demands on air transport over the Chinese New Year.
Compared to last year’s 28, this marks an increase of more than 1.5 times, which, according to the authorities, will allow the local air transport market to provide enough capacity over this Lunar New Year, especially for travels between Macau and Taiwan, mainland China, as well as Japan and Korea.
“Traditionally, the Chinese across the straits often go home during Chinese New Year to enjoy their holidays. For the mainland Chinese, the mood for outbound travel or travelling within the country is often enthusiastic during this time. This often leads to a high demand for the air transport market in Macau,” said the AACM in a statement on Monday.
“Furthermore, local residents can enjoy four to five leisure days this year, the duration of which makes it possible to go on a short trip. As a result, the market for short-haul flights such as mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea are in great demand,”  the report continued.
The 73 extra and charter flights have been in operation since last Saturday and will run until February 28. Fifty of them are between Macau and mainland cities such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Zhengzhou and Tianjin, whereas 13 are for Korea. Moreover, the AACM approved 5 more flights for both Taiwan and Japan.
The AACM said it only received one application for extra and charter flights last year, from Air Macau; this year, four more airlines also submitted an application, namely East Asia Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, TransAsia Airways and Jin Air.
“The SAR Government has always supported the development of aviation and has adopted liberal air transport policies since the beginning. In approving extra and charter flights, the authorities will put passenger interests into consideration, based on safety first as the top priority,” the AACM stressed in their statement. BY