Macau: Jetstar Pacific Airlines launching Ho ChiMinh route in August

Whilst preparing for the holiday season, Macau International Airport (MIA) said that in order to provide more holiday destination options for travellers, some airlines will increase scheduled flight frequency during the summer, as well as putting on charter flights to Okinawa in Japan. The company also revealed that Jetstar Pacific Airlines plans to launch a service linking Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Macau in August, with some other new routes under preparation. Macau International Airport also released figures of passenger volume for the first half of this year. The Airport handled over 2.78 million passengers, an increase of 6.6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Aircraft movements topped 27,000, an increase of 6.9 per cent. While Taiwan routes recorded a slower growth of 0.6 per cent, Mainland China routes recorded a slight drop of 1.3 per cent in passenger volume. The company said that overall passenger markets in the first half of 2015 maintained positive growth. Despite the Korean market recording a decline due to the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) passenger numbers for South and North East Asia grew 18.8 per cent. In June 2015, the average daily passenger traffic at the Airport reached 15,000, climbing 3.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2014. Over 4,400 aircraft movements were recorded, increasing 4.8 per cent compared to June 2014. J.K.