Lawmaker urges gov’t to nurture aviation professionals as airport expands

As the green light has been granted to expand the city’s airport, lawmaker Ella Lei urged the government to nurture professionals in the aviation industry in her written inquiry.

Lei stated that she regards the current situation as worrying, as the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions have drastically reduced the scale of aviation traffic to and from Macau. This has consequently led to professionals departing from the industry to maintain their income and quality of life.

She questioned the government on whether it had conducted evaluations on the matter and what conclusions it had drawn.

Moreover, she foresaw challenges existing for some time before the city returns to normality, despite the world deciding to coexist with the virus. The lawmaker asked how the government would prepare for the future of the aviation industry, in light of any evaluations on the impact of the pandemic.

Her most in-depth question concerned the future of aviation professionals. After highlighting the government’s solution of offering jobs as part of the airport expansion, Lei emphasized that the expanded airport would be in dire need of aviation professionals too.

Nonetheless, she pointed out, the government rarely mentions its plans regarding the cultivation of professionals or any studies that have been conducted on the matter. Hence why Lei is demanding answers from the government.

Previously, Beijing approved the expansion of the Macau International Airport.

The project will reclaim about 1.3 square kilometers of land and will be completed in phases.

The local government expects the expanded airport to handle 15 million passengers annually.