Royal Flight Airlines launches regular flight to Moscow

Royal Flight Airlines will start offering a regular weekly service between Macau and Moscow, as announced yesterday at the launch ceremony of the Macau-Moscow route at the Macau International Airport (MIA).

Previously, Royal Flight Airlines had offered a weekly charter service between Macau and the Russian capital.

As opposed to previous years, the airline is providing a regular schedule service to Moscow instead of a charter-based service.

Eric Fong, director of Marketing Department of Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM), extended a warm welcome to Royal Flight Airlines resuming their services at MIA.

“Since the beginning of its operation, the route has been well received by tourists, with the passenger load factor reaching more than 95 percent. Royal Flight Airline has… great confidence [about] the Macau-Moscow route. […] In turn, MIA looks forward to expanding operational opportunities with Royal Flight, aiming to open up new air services so as to further strengthen the route network, thus providing passengers with more convenient travel options,” said Fong.

Simon Chan, President of the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau, on the sideline of the ceremony, said “flights to Moscow have been being operated for two years through a charter-based service in summer. Now, the market is mature, […] following the launching of a regular flight service, [the airline] will provide services throughout the whole year.”

According to Chan, more than half of Macau’s current flight routes are international ones.

“There were companies inquiring about [the opening of routes between Macau] and Europe but, so far, there has not been a single application,” revealed Chan.

According to Chan, by the end of May, flights between Macau and Cebu will also become available.

Chan also expects that, in the future, integrated transportation services over land, sea and air will become a trend.

Regarding the airport’s expansion, Chan hopes that a report can be delivered to the Central Government in the third quarter of this year.

Cheng Wai Tong, a representative of the director of the Macau Government Tourism Office, said that the new regular flight route between Macau and Moscow would provide passengers with more options for the 2018 World Cup and the coming gold week of the Chinese National Day holiday.

“[MGTO] hopes that more Russian tourists can visit Macau. Russia has become one of the most popular destinations among mainland tourists. Macau has many unique and diverse tourism aspects which are attractive to Russian tourists,” said Cheng, adding that approximately 27,000 Russian tourists visited Macau in 2017, an increase of more than 5 percent year-on-year.