The Labour Day Holiday is approaching. According to data from Ctrip, the travel flow of the Mainland is expected to exceed 200 million reaching a new high during the Holiday from 1st to 5th May 2021, while the number of air ticket reservation has surpassed to that of 2019 with an increase of 23%. In regards of the prevention works and control measures of the pandemic for ensuring the safety, security and service of MIA during the holiday, Dr. Deng Jun, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM), held a work preparation meeting with the Executive Directors of CAM included Mr. Chu Tan Neng, Mr. Kan Cheok Kuan, Mr. Lei Si Tai and Mr. Leung Henry Yee Hang on 28th April 2021 to understand the details of the preparation status of relevant airport entities and make adequate plans for the possible small traffic peaks in MIA during the holiday. The Directors of Marketing Department (MKD) and Airport Operations Department (AOD), and the General Manager of Airport Information Management Solutions (AIMS) and Acting General Manager of SEMAC Security Company (SEMAC) have gave a work brief presentation.                                                                                                                     

During the meeting, CAM Chairman of the Executive Committee Dr. Deng Jun shared the latest statistics from CARNOC. According to big data of VariFlight, about 57,600 domestic scheduled outbound flights with an average daily departure of 11,900 flights is expected during the Labour Day holiday, representing a year on year increase by 74.47%. Macau, as the most popular international travel destination this year, is estimated to receive 124 scheduled flights from the Mainland during the holiday. This figure shown that over 50% flight operation has been recovered compared to that as in the same period of 2019. Amongst, Shanghai Pudong International Airport has the largest number of flight to Macau with 42 scheduled departure flights, followed by 15 flights departing from Beijing Capital International Airport, and 13 flights from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport. Dr. Deng has emphasized that with the increasing number of flights during the long holiday, works to ensuring safety and security are the top priority of Macau International Airport (MIA). Especially under the anti-epidemic situation, the passenger flow and space in the passenger terminal building (PTB) have been adjusted accordingly, while the ground handling service provider and the aircraft catering suppliers have laid off number of non-local employees. Consequently, higher requirements to Airport Operations Department, AIMS and SEMAC on assuring work smoothness. It is required that relevant ground handling and catering services to be further enhanced. It is also necessary to further strengthen the coordination on relevant arrangements to deal with emergencies in a timely manner while emergency response plans should be prepared in advance. In addition, the pandemic prevention works should never be slackened as the COVID-19 are spreading widely in India and rebounds could also found in regions of the United States and Europe. The pandemic in the Mainland and Macau has been effectively controlled, nevertheless, prevention measures are still required to be strictly implemented. It is also required that all frontline operating units and departments must implement measures precisely, and the supervisors are obligate to conduct inspection in person for preventing any omission. Meanwhile, all units should actively cooperate with the Health Bureau of the SAR Government and relevant government entities as usual to ensure the preventive measures could meet relevant requirements and standards. Once a suspicious case is discovered, staff are also required to report in time according to the procedures and deal with it immediately without taking it lightly and irresponsibly.

Director of Marketing Department of CAM Mr. Eric Fong mentioned in his work briefing that they have been actively coordinating with airlines and travel agencies for related checking procedures of Mainland customs code and Macau health code which passengers are required before departure, so as to maximize the convenience of passenger clearance and to reduce the congestion in PTB during peak hours as much as possible. Afterwards, Director of Airport Operations Department of CAM Mr. Gary Geng report that they have learned with the airport operators regarding the manpower deployment of frontline staff during the holiday period. It is expected that staffing is sufficient for service operations during the period. In which, it is estimated that 500 ground handling crews, 610 security staff, 33 aviation fuel supply service attendants and 137 catering personnel will be on duty deployment. In addition, AOD has also coordinated with the shops in MIA to adjust the business hours opening from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. during the holiday, and arranged additional staff to strengthen the cleaning and disinfection of the equipment and facilities in PTB to safeguard the health and safety of travelers. Besides, there is Boeing-787 aircraft arriving to MIA which relevant facilities, equipment and ground service areas are well prepared to ensure the safe operation of ground services during the period and further improve the operational efficiency. General Manager of AIMS Ms. Sharon Wang, mentioned in her briefing that typhoon season is in present. In order to ensure the normal operation of the airport operation system, relevant technicians will be on duty for system monitoring and maintenance. Moreover, servers, databases, related systems and network equipment will also be inspected, maintained, and backed up first to ensure the normal operation of airport information system and the safe operation of network service facilities during the holiday. Acting General Manager of SEMAC Mr. Paul Leong gave work briefing at the meeting and mentioned that sufficient security personnel have been arranged to work on duty during the holiday. They has also coordinated with AOD during the holiday season to ensure the security and safety of the airport during peak hours. The number of passenger channels will also be adjusted timely depends on the passenger flow, and at the same time they will also strengthen inspections on airport security facilities, especially the security inspection equipment of passenger passages. In the event of equipment failure or suspicious incidents, there are also mechanisms for reporting to relevant departments for investigation and emergency maintenance with proper handling to ensure the safe operation of MIA.

Executive Committee members made a summary reminder after hearing the work briefing: Executive Director of CAM Mr. Chu Tan Neng indicated that it is important to ensure the epidemic prevention work is in place. Continue to adhere to the pandemic prevention mechanism and measures in an orderly manner, and emphasized the importance of improving the emergency plan for airport operation. At the same time, all departments within the company are required to strengthen the implementation of work and timely report information to ensure that loopholes are timely remedied. Executive Director of CAM Mr. Kan Cheok Kuan indicated that with the steady increase in the number of passengers, it is necessary to make advance and systematic preparations, namely negotiate with airlines and ground service providers to reasonably adjust the opening ratio of passenger service counters, collect relevant passenger data, formulate targeted service measures and improve relevant procedures, so as to speed up passenger handling procedures and processing time, and prepare for full recovery in the future. Executive Director of CAM Mr. Lei Si Tai said that during the coming holiday season MIA will have passenger peak. In response, the AOD said that they are actively coordinating staffing arrangements with ground service providers to ensure the normal operation of the airport during the holiday period. Executive Director of CAM Mr. Leung Henry Yee Hang indicated that it is necessary to further improve the relevant emergency plan and refine all kinds of possible emergency situations, such as the handling for passengers stranded in the terminal building during typhoons or adverse weather. He added that it is also necessary to consider the impact of the current airport infrastructure construction on the high passenger flow during the holiday to ensure the normal operation of the airport.

After the meeting, the Executive Committee members went to the airport to inspect the operation of the airport, including the passenger terminal building, the airport cargo station and Macau Catering Services Company Limited (MCS). During the inspection, General Manager of Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. (Menzies) Mr. Mark Campbell communicated with the Executive Committee members about the recent operation situation and expressed confidence that Menzies could cope with the operation service demand during the holiday. General Manager of MCS Ms. Judy Kang and her delegation exchanged information with Executive Committee members about personnel allocation, industry recovery, and production and operation status during the Labour Day holiday. They mentioned that Medina Foods Inc. (MQ), a professional Canadian consultant company was hired by CAM and conducted a food safety and quality audit on MCS in February 2021. MCS received 100 points in two of the audit items: Food Processing Quality and Food Processing Safety, which re-affirmed MCS's long-term work Quality. Ms. Kang said the aviation industry has gone through the difficult time under the pandemic and understand that the recovery of the industry will face greater challenges under the current pandemic prevention environment. Therefore, CAM has taken active measures to try its best to help the business of the industry to recover on the right track. CAM also encourages the same industry to make dynamic adjustment according to the market trend. It is expected that with joint efforts of various parties, the civil aviation industry of Macau will gradually return to the pre-pandemic level and drive the tourism and economic recovery.