The Macau International Airport Co. Ltd. (CAM) announced that approximately 1.83 million passengers used the airport in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period in 2024.
In a statement, the company highlighted that the airport handled about 14,000 passenger flights, reflecting a 1.6% rise compared to the January to March period last year.
Conversely, the cargo volume processed at the Taipa-based facility decreased by 9.5% year-on-year in the first quarter.
CAM acknowledged that the airport’s performance “was not as strong as expected,” citing geopolitical and global economic instability as challenges impacting route development.
“The increasing operational costs for airlines have further restricted their capacity, leading to noticeable changes in market structure and significantly affecting passenger and cargo operations,” the company stated.
CAM projected that the passenger and cargo volumes for 2025 would not meet the targets set at the beginning of the year.
In February, CAM’s President Simon Chan Weng Hong forecasted a passenger movement surpassing eight million in 2025, marking an 8% increase, alongside 65,000 flight movements and a cargo volume of 113,000 tons.
On April 3, Ethiopian Airlines inaugurated its first long-haul cargo route from Macau to Madrid, Spain, with two weekly round-trip flights aimed at cross-border e-commerce goods.
Today’s statement from CAM also revealed that the low-cost carrier AirAsia is set to launch charter flights to Tawau, Malaysia, in early May.
During the same month, Macau is expected to open a new route to Jeju in South Korea’s south, operated by Jeju Air, the low-cost airline which also plans to initiate flights from Cheongju, located in the country’s central region.
Currently, Macau’s airport hosts regular passenger flights operated by 27 airlines to 41 destinations, including mainland China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea, according to the CAM’s website.
In January, the company, in collaboration with the Government of the semi-autonomous Chinese region, pledged to “explore more international markets with both foreign and local airlines to promote the development of routes in 2025.”
In June 2023, Tourism Services Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes described the launch of direct flights between Macau and Portugal as “a dream,” while also noting the possibility of cooperating with neighboring airports in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
