The Macau International Airport (MIA) management suffered a significant decline in revenues in 2020 but it will maintain its current development pace and accelerate the optimization of airport facilities and equipment, the airport’s management company Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ma Iao Hang, said today (Thursday).
MIA received 1.17 million passengers in 2020 a dramatic 88 per cent drop from the year prior, with aircraft movements handled also shrinking considerably by 78 per cent to 16,962, while business jet operations decreased by almost 80 per cent, with only 606 movements recorded.
In a speech delivered during the company’s Media Spring Luncheon, Ma noted that MIA has suffered operating losses for consecutive months, with depreciation expenses contributing about half of the registered accumulated losses.
“CAM always adheres to prudent cash flow management principles and is able to maintain cash level to meet current business conditions. During the epidemic, two rounds of relief measures were provided to relevant aviation entities to tide over the difficult times together,” Ma stated.
“Despite the significant decline in revenues of the airport in 2020, CAM continues to fulfil its commitment to shareholders from the internal resources accumulated from past years”
According to Ma, from 2015 to 2020, a total of MOP1.2 billion (US$150.2 million) were paid to shareholders for loan repayments and preferred dividends distributions.
With currently only local airline Air Macau, and Taiwanese airlines EVA Air and Starlux having regular passenger flights to Macau, the MIA head stated that the airport will maintain a certain number of routes but hoped to be able to gradually increase them in the future.
At the same time, MIA continues to carry out works for the optimization of airport facilities and equipment, with the main structure of the South Extension of Passenger Terminal Building officially topped out and the building expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Upon completion, the new terminal building will increase yearly capacity from 7.8 million to 10 million passengers.
The expansion project initiated in March 2020 is being carried out by Nam Fong Construction & Real Estate Co., Limited with about 40 per cent of the project completed.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure project of the Second Terminal Building has entered the stage of design, with local authorities estimating that the second terminal – which will be connected to the airport by a fenced-off corridor – will be able to handle 1.4 million passengers a year by 2021.
“Space and service level of MIA will be further enhanced while Pac On Ferry Terminal will be built into a land, sea and air integrated transportation hub to better serve the residents of Macau and Greater Bay Area,” Ma noted.
“According to the forecast of Airport Council International (ACI), the global aviation passenger traffic is estimated to grow with a 2.4 per cent annual rate over the next five years, even though the recovery may not be balanced globally. MIA will proactively engage in the Greater Bay Area to capitalize our advantages”
Of all business sectors in MIA, the cargo business seemed to be the one that fair the best in 2020, with a smaller 21 per cent year-on-year reduction in cargo volume to some 33,346 tonnes, while
“MIA has worked closely with airlines to actively introduce “freighter” business and increase the density and destinations of freighter service to make up for the impact of lacking belly cabin resources on cargo capacity as far as possible,’ Ma noted.
An Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) system of MIA has also been officially launched for enhancement on the capacity of air traffic control and airspace coordination as well as the traffic control collaboration, with an Electronic Flight Progress Strip system (EFPS) also introduced.
