A press conference was held at 15:00 on Wednesday, 31st January, 2007 at the Function Room of the Macau International Airport Co. Ltd (CAM), Office Building. Representatives from airport operators, airlines, media and correspondents were invited to attend the press conference at which Ms. Liu Suning, Executive Director of CAM, accompanied by CAM’s management team, not only conducted the review of 2006, but also presented an outline of the objectives and strategies for the year ahead.

The year of 2006 was full of opportunities and challenges. The Macau civil aviation industry was subject to internally changing economic condition as well as simultaneously dealing with the large and rapidly changing world civil aviation market environment. With the vigorous support extended from the Central and the Macau SAR Governments as well as the enterprises hard work in the airfreight industry, Macau International Airport has achieved firm growth whilst at the same time encountering an increase in business bottlenecks.

The Diversification of Routes and Passenger Markets in 2006
Macau International Airport’s air traffic has grown rapidly. In 2006, the Airport obtained a satisfying result recording 51,409 movements, which represents a 13.4% increase when compared to 2005. MIA had over 10 airlines providing flight services. These included legacy airlines namely; Air Macau, Xiamen Airlines, EVA Air and TransAsia Airways who kept their business development models by providing flight services to passengers from mainland China, Taiwan and local travellers. The entry of new airlines such as Viva Macau, Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Shenzhen Airlines and Hainan Airlines in recent years, has also helped in the diversification of flight routes and has provided a new source of travelling groups to Macau.

MIA now has 25 regular routes operated, in addition to non-scheduled flight services. In 2006, 4,976,093 passengers were handled, representing a 17.06% growth comparing with the previous year (which is an outstanding result and the culmination of a lot of hard work by all of the airport stakeholders). Visitor arrivals to Macau in 2006 reached a record of 21.99 million, a surge of 17.57 % over 2005. Of these visitors, arrivals by air (including at the airport and the heliport) accounted for 5.6% of the total arrival visitors, representing 1,236,178 passengers, a growth of 18.85% comparing with 2005.

The proportion of Taiwan and non-Taiwan market passengers has been gradually adjusted to around half of the total passengers. Within the non-Taiwan market, 61.7% were from Mainland China, 36.9% from the South East Asian region and the remainder were from other regions. In order to cope with the needs of Macau’s tourism and gaming industry, the introduction of low-cost airlines allowed the tapping into of a totally different and new market segment. This enabled MIA’s Point-to-Point air services to become more prominent. In 2006, a record 60% of passengers flying from Macau International Airport had MIA as their starting point or final destination, an increase of 8% growth comparing with 2002(should this be 2005)? thus bringing MIA closer to becoming an O&D(this should be spelt out) airport.

2006 Cargo Development
In the air cargo aspect, 220,572 tons of airfreight was processed in 2006, indicating a drop of 2.9% comparing with the previous year. Cargo aircraft movements in comparison with schedule flight and non-schedule flights were 63% and 37% respectively. The proportion of airfreight cargo uplifted by Freighter VS Belly hold was 70% and 30% respectively.

On-going and Completed Infrastructure Projects
In order to accommodate the rapid changes generated by the local economic environment and regional competition, a series of on-going and completed infrastructure projects have been carried out.

South Apron Expansion – 2nd phase
To cope with the development of the Macao economy and increasing demands for air transport, the South Apron expansion is close to completion and will be in service very soon. The expansion adds an area of 65,000 m2, adding 5 parking spaces and enabling the airport to accommodate up to and including Boeing 777-300ER type aircraft.

Cargo Terminal Expansion
The Cargo Terminal Expansion project will also be completed very soon. The new facility will double the current capacity for cargo handled and is equipped with advanced loading/unloading and inspection facilities to help solve current problems with the existing terminal. Problems, such as congestion, insufficient truck parking space and areas for loading/unloading, will be a thing of the past with our new facility. Additional office space will be set up for the convenience of logistics companies and freight forwarders in handling daily operations.

In addition to the new infrastructure constructions, MIA has carried out improvements to existing facilities as well. They include: Drinking-Water Filtering System, Security Check Station at Gate No.2, New Smoking Lounges, the replacement of carpet in the airport and VIP lounge, the purchase of new fire fighting engines, the provision of multi-language signage and the design phase of a new commercial project for the passenger terminal building.

Drinking-Water Filtering System
In order to improve the quality of the airport facilities, MIA has installed an LVPG water-filtering system from Germany to purify and sterilize drinking water for use on board the aircraft thus ensuring the quality of the passengers’ drinking water.

Security Check Station at Gate No.2
The new Gate No.2 security checking station will be in service soon and upon its completion will provide both secure and efficient access security service to the airport’s security restricted area.

New Smoking Lounges
Two new advanced technology air-purification system smoking lounges were opened at the southern and northern ends of the airside departure hall of the passenger terminal building. The air-purification system separates the smoking areas from non-smoking areas by creating "Air Curtains“ which ensures a negative air pressure is maintained within the smoking area and eliminates smoke from drifting outside the controlled area.

Multi-Language Signage
As a member of the “East Asia Airports Alliance” (EAAA), MIA is embracing the joint image by making changes on all existing airport signage. Signage at the airport has been replaced with new signs now in 5 languages: namely Chinese, Portuguese, English, Japanese and Korean. By doing this, the convenience and needs of international passengers coming from different countries are met.

With the approval of Macau SAR, CAM has signed a Letter of Intent for MIA Communication, Navigations and Surveillance (CNS) upgrade project with CAAC North Regional Administration as the main contractor. This project will ensure that MIA’s systems are in line with those of the CAAC and Hong Kong Airport air traffic control towers.
MIA always observes and responds to aviation market changes, thus ensuring the provision of a gratifying experience for all of our passengers.

Roots in Macau, Go Global –The regional cooperation projects that Macau International Airport has developed or completed in 2006

Act as a platform between Chinese and Portuguese aviation authorities
In line with Macau’s role as a platform between Mainland China and the Portuguese speaking countries, MIA has since 2003 been dedicated to promoting exchange activities amongst civil aviation management groups such as Mainland China, Macau and Portugal. During 2005 and 2006, there were 24 civil aviation management training and exchange programs jointly organized by MIA and partners from the Mainland and Portugal. In these programs 176 aviation professionals from China and 56 from Macau have participated.

Establishment of Sister Airport Relationship
MIA signed sister airport Letters of Intent(LOI) with 5 airports in 2006. They were; Ningbo Lishe International Airport, Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, WuXi Airport Co. Ltd, Incheon International Airport Corporation and ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, SA. Currently, MIA has cooperation LOI with 7 sister airports, including: Frankfurt Hahn Airport and Inner Mongolia Civil Airports Group Co.
The objectives are to set up cooperation ties with national and international airports for the development and promotion of new routes, the adding of flight frequencies to existing routes and as well as to enhance information exchange and sharing of management experiences between airports.

Participate in activities of East Asia Airport Alliance (EAAA)
MIA has participated in activities organized by East Asia Airport Alliance since 2003. Currently there are 11 members in the EAAA, including major airports in Mainland China, Japan and Korea. The aim is to promote the development of the civil aviation market within the region.

By participating in the regional and global activities of the aviation industry, Macau International Airport can fully express itself from its base in Macau but with global development in mind.

Future Planning and Prospect
The Central and the Macau SAR governments place a great deal of focus on the civil air transport development of Macau. With the increase of external demands and the growing internal needs for air service, Macau’s economy has turned towards regional and international development. The raising of operating efficiency by Macau International Airport, the rapid changes of the competitive environments of regional aviation markets, all contribute to position the airport in a way that will allow it to capitalise on development opportunities.

There are however some unknown answers to questions as to whether or not the existing airlines can react promptly to the increasing demands for local air service from the markets in terms of quality and quantity? Will the development of the airport’s infrastructure and handling capacities soon reach a bottleneck or not? Can the local civil air transport mechanism respond promptly to the rapid changes in the international air transport markets?

Four key development plans have been undertaken by CAM. They are: enhancing external cooperation for development; reinforcing human resources to optimise efficiency; integrating supply chain values to raise competitiveness; and the promotion of strong communication ties with government authorities for airport development. The airport also engaged an airport consultancy company – NACO, to work out a 5 year development plan for the airport covering its future development direction.

Regardless of the environmental conditions that MIA is now facing, in which it aims to be an important member of the civil aviation industry; MIA will do its best, to provide convenient services, and to promote the economic and aviation industry growth of Macau by providing effective passenger and cargo air services.

After the presentation, a Q & A session was carried out. Assisting Ms Liu to answer questions were the Management Team members including: Mr. António Rato, Senior Assistant to the Chairman, Director of Planning & Development Department, Mr. Cui Guang, Director of Logistic Cargo Development Department, Ms. Hsu Wen Lin, Director of Finance and Administration Department, Ms. Grace Cheang, Acting Director of Marketing Department, Mr. Danny Hui, Acting Director of Infrastructure Development Department, Mr. Samuel Tong, Deputy Chief of Policy Research Office were also in attendance.