Air Macau is the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. It operates services to 24 destinations in Mainland China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, from the airline's home base at Macau International Airport. In 2014, Air Macau carried 2.12 million passengers with an average load factor of 68.20% and carried 15,900 tonnes of cargo and mail.

History

The airline was established on 13 September 1994, and began commercial operations on 9 November 1995, with a flight from Macau to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Prior to 1995, there was no air service to Macau since 1962 other than the helicopter service. Seaplane service had been provided by Macau Air Transport Company from 1948 to 1961. One-aircraft service between Beijing, Shanghai and

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

began on 8 December 1995. The first pure-freighter service was launched on 7 October 2002, between Taipei and

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

via Macau. In 1999, the airline had 1.1 million passengers each year, with 80% of them originating from two cities in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

and

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

. In 2006, Air Macau was owned by China National Aviation Holding (51%),

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its airline hub, hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2, ...

(20%), STDM (14%),

EVA Air EVA Airways Corporation ( ; ) () is an international airline headquartered in Taoyuan City. It is one of the two largest airlines in Taiwan along with state-owned China Airlines. The privately owned airline operates passenger and dedicated c ...

(5%), the

government of Macau The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Macao Government, is the Executive_(government), executive authorities of Macau. Formed on 20 December 1999 in accordance with the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declarati ...

(5%) and Macau investors (5%). It employs 1,245 staff (at March 2016). In 2009, two companies controlled by

Edmund Ho Edmund Ho Hau Wah, GML, GCM, GOIH (born 13 March 1955) is a Macau politician who served as the first Chief Executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region from 1999 to 2009. He currently serves as a Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Peopl ...

, the Chief Executive of Macau sold a combined 1.25% stake to

Air China Air China, officially Air China Limited, ( zh, s=中国国际航空公司, labels=no, ''Zhōngguó guójì hángkōng gōngsī'') is a major Chinese airline and the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China. It is headquartered in Shunyi ...

for a sum undisclosed by the parties. In 2010, TAP sold its share to

Corporate affairs

The head office is currently in the Edifício CNAC ( zh, first=t,j, t=中航大廈, s=中航大厦, j=zung1 hong4 daai6 haa6, p=Zhòngháng Dàshà, labels=no) in Sé (Cathedral Parish) on the Macau Peninsula. Previously it was in the Edifício Tai Wah ( zh, first=t,j, t=大華大廈, s=大华大厦, j=daai6 waa4 daai6 haa6, p=Dàhuá Dàshà, labels=no) in Sé.

Destinations

The airline currently operates 24 destinations including 15 destinations in mainland China.

Codeshare agreements

Air Macau has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: *

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival flag carrier Japan Airlines. the airline has approximate ...

Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines Inc. ( ) is a South Korean airline headquartered in Seoul.Home
." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 13 September 2 ...

Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank, PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and is the oldest operating commercial airline in Asia. Philippine ...

Shandong Airlines Shandong Airlines Co., Ltd. (; nicknamed SDA or ) is an airline based in the Shandong Airlines Center () in Jinan, Shandong. The Chinese carrier operates a sizable domestic network from Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai to major cities across China, toge ...

* Shenzhen Airlines * Thai Airways International Air Macau and

officially launch frequent flyer program cooperation from July 1, 2010. Air Macau Privileges members will earn mileages on all scheduled flights operated by All Nippon Airways and marketed by All Nippon Airways or Air Macau, and redeem Award Travel on all scheduled flights operated and marketed by All Nippon Airways.

Frequent flyer

Air Macau has its own

frequent flyer program A frequent-flyer programme (FFP) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programmes designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the programme to accumulate points (also called miles, kilometres, ...

called Lotus Miles (formerly Privileges). On 1 January 2015, Privileges merged with Phoenix Miles, which is the frequent flyer program of

, hence retaining the current Lotus Miles.

Fleet

Current fleet

, Air Macau operates an all-

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Two Boeing 727-100Fs were rented to provide air cargo service to

and

from 2002 to 2006; both have returned to revenue service

Transmile Air Services Raya Airways Sdn Bhd d/b/a Raya Airways, is a cargo airline with its head office at Cyberjaya, Selangor and the main hub for Raya Airways at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is an express freight and fr ...

(and repainted from Air Macau livery). Both aircraft were replaced with two A300-600RFs owned by Air Macau. These two Airbus A300 left the company in 2012. Two old A321-100 were replaced by two new A321-200 in 2013. In 2020 two Airbus A319-100 were retired.

Livery

Although Air Macau serves as Macau's

, the

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

of the Special Administrative Region of Macau has never appeared on any of its aircraft, similar to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...

. However, unlike Cathay Pacific, which carried a

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

on its aircraft prior to the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong, the

flag of Portugal The national flag of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic, often referred to as the Portuguese flag consists of a rectangular bicolour with a field divided into green on the Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms, hoist, and r ...

never appeared on any Air Macau aircraft prior to the 1999 Handover of Macau.

Macau Asia Express

Macau Asia Express was a failed low-cost airline project, which was to be based in Macau and originally to be launched in 2007, offering scheduled flights mostly to

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. It was founded on 24 January 2006 with an initial funding of $30 million. It was owned by Air Macau (51%) and ST-CNAC (CNAC and Shun Tak Holdings) (49%). The aircraft fleet would have consisted of 6

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

short-medium haul jet aircraft, which was planned to be expanded to 15–20 aircraft over the first years in operation. In November 2007, the '' Macau Daily News'' reported that Macau Asia Express was suffering from funding problems, which led to a delay at the taking-over of ordered aircraft, and finally the revocation of its

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

in 2008.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Companies, Aviation Airlines of Macau Airlines established in 1994 1994 establishments in Macau Brands of Macau