The Executive Directors of Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM) Mr. Chu Tan Neng, Mr. Kan Cheok Kuan, Mr. Lei Si Tai and Mr. Leung Henry Yee Hang, led the company’s departments directors and related representatives, together with the President of Civil Aviation Authority of Macau SAR (AACM) Mr. Simon Chan to welcome the Director of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) Mr. Che Jinjun, CAAC Director General of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Office Mr. Ding Ming, Director of CAAC Central and Southern China ATMB Mr. Zhang Jian and others on 13th Apr 2021. The meeting and exchange deepens the understanding of the role and function of Macau International Airport (MIA) and civil aviation industry as the core engine city in the Bay Area, which can actively promote integration into the overall development of the Country.

At the meeting, Mr. Chu first welcomed the delegation coming to pay a visit. He stated that the MSAR under the direct leadership of the Chief Executive, has made great efforts to fight against the pandemic. The widespread vaccination and the long term anti-pandemic measures of different countries’ governments are believed to be able to help in the recovery of civil aviation industry of Macau. The MIA is the smallest in scale among the airport clusters in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, however, its annual passenger in 2019 has been already 14 times the local population. As a non-hub airport, this achievement is not easy to come by, but the complementary initiative of the local tourism and civil aviation industries, providing strong support and guarantee for Macau in construction of the “one center, one platform and one base”, as well as “building an exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as the mainstream and multicultural coexistence”.  With the improvement of the pandemic and the recovery of the civil aviation industry, the shortage of airspace resources in the Bay Area will once again appear. He expressed sincere gratitude to the site visit the delegation is paying this time, study and jointly discuss for possible solutions to ensure the steadiness and stability of local civil aviation industry on the basis of a win-win situation in the Greater Bay Area.

President of AACM Mr. Chan expressed that there is limited room for MIA on development of international flights under the general environment of normalized pandemic prevention and control stage at present. Meanwhile, it is necessary to press ahead to review the progress of airport master plan and promote the in-depth and coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) in accordance with the national outline development plan. In particular, the implementation of tripartite coordination on air traffic control is emphasized to be facilitated under the premise of ensuring normal operation of Macau International Airport. It is also hoped that communication and cooperation with the Mainland air traffic control authorities will be further strengthened while believed that the airports in the GBA can develop at their respective regional advantages in the future.

Director General of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Office of CAAC Mr. Ding Ming pointed out that the cooperation between the Mainland and Macau civil aviation has been long-standing with a solid foundation, positive effect, great influence and significance. CAAC has issued “the Implementation Opinions on Supporting the Coordinated Development of Civil Aviation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area” in July 2019 with the core essence to build the world-class airport cluster in the GBA. It is sure that the civil aviation industry has a decisive influence on the development of Macau as an international city. At the same time, considering the airspace in the Greater Bay Area is one of the busiest in the world, with the spirit of “Innovation, Coordination, Integration, and Win-win”, CAAC has jointly conducted intensive and comprehensive research with the civil aviation authorities of Hong Kong and Macau as well as multiple measures were took for supporting the modification and expansion of Macau International Airport at the greatest extent, so that to adjust and optimize its airspace structure for further enhancement on air traffic control capability. Hoping that to guide Macau’s civil aviation industry into the overall development plan of the country while highlight Macau’s position of national strategy “One Belt One Road” to play its role as the core engine city in the Greater Bay Area and serve the country’s dual-cycle development pattern.

The Director of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) Mr. Che Jinjun indicated that with the rigorous implementation of prevention measures and the vaccination programme has been widely launched in number of countries, it is clear that the economy is recovering from the perspective of civil aviation. Mr. Che also expressed recognition to MIA’s responding measures during the pandemic to fight against the COVID-19 and believed that the development of the Macau SAR has fully reflected the successful implementation of “One Country, Two Systems”. As an international city, Macau shows the country’s prosperity and stability to the world. Under the leadership of CAAC, ATMB has always been working closely with Macau and obtained great achievements in promoting the development of aviation safety and optimization on the use of airspace between the Mainland and Macau. Consequently, the overall safety level and operation efficiency of the Greater Bay Area have been greatly improved. In which, the punctuality rate of flights from the Mainland to Macau has reached 71.97%, 79.69%, and 77.88% in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively and the rate of flights to Macau International Airport even reached 80% to conclude with a year-on-year increase. Director Che has also pointed out that the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is the integral national strategy which is also the mission of the national civil aviation industry to resolve the shortage of airspace resources in the Bay Area. By summarizing the cooperation experience of years, a deeper and highly efficient communication and coordination mechanism has been established and consolidated. Meanwhile, the employment of new international operation technologies has also been taking into account to meet the development needs of airports in the Bay Area during the coordination of airspace management planning in order to optimize the airspace allocation with more reasonable structure and higher efficiency achieved. Exchanges and cooperation between the Mainland and Macau in the field of traffic flow management, airspace research and planning, application of new technology and talent team building has also been strengthen accordingly to joint forces on building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. It is also hoped that the Mainland and Macau can grasp the national strategic planning and work hand in hand to promote civil aviation management in the Mainland and Macau.

Air traffic management is an important part of the Country’s comprehensive transportation system and an important foundation for ensuring the development of aviation. According to Xinhua News Agency, Politburo Standing Committee Member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Vice Premier of the State Council cum Director General of the Central Air Traffic Management Committee, Mr. Han Zheng has recently visited the operation management center, the aviation meteorological center, and the aeronautical information service center of CAAC for inspecting the situation of national civil aviation operation management, meteorological services, aeronautical information services, etc. During the inspection, Mr. Han has also emphasized the need of formulating plans scientifically to strengthen capacity and accelerate the enhancement on national air traffic management standards. It is also believed that with the continuous development of national civil aviation management, greater policy dividends and new development opportunities will be created for comprehensively enhancing the safety level and operational efficiency of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of CAM Mr. Ma Iao Hang feasted the CAAC delegation to gratitude their long-term support to MIA and the civil aviation industry. After the meeting, the delegation has continued to conduct in-depth research and discussion for the overall national planning in the future.

Other representatives included: ATMB – Director General of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Office Mr. Tian Fang, Deputy Director General of Air Traffic Management Division Mr. Kang Nan, Director General of Policy Research Office Mr. Chen Zao, Director General of Airspace Management Center Mr. Miao Xuan, Deputy Director General of Operation Management Center Mr. Wang Wei, Engineer of Airspace Management Office of Airspace Management Center Mr. Ma Linnan; CAAC – Secretary of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Office Mr. Lin Maosen; AACM – Director of Airport Infrastructure and Air Navigation Mr. Taft Lam, Safety Officer of Air Traffic Control Mr. Bryan Chiu and Assistant Safety Officer of Air Traffic Control Mr. Tony Lao; CAM – Director of Finance and Administration Department Ms. Grace Cheang, Director of Planning and Commercial Development Department Ms. Winnie Hsu, Chief Representative of Beijing Representative Office Ms. Yuan Weifang, Director of Executive Committee Office Ms. Katy Lo, Director of Marketing Department Mr. Eric Fong, Director of Legal Department Mr. Anthony U, Director of Infrastructure Development Department Mr. Sandro Kou, Director of Corporate Communication & Policy Research Office Ms. Vicki Mou, Director of Logistics and General Aviation Development Department Mr. Frank Wu, Director of Internal Audit Department Mr. Patrick Ong, Director of Airport Operations Department Mr. Gary Geng and Senior Head of Air Traffic Service Division of Airport Operations Department Mr. Hoover Hu.