Macau Air Transport Company (Macao Air Transport Company) was a subsidiary of

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 ...

that operated

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

services between Macau and Hong Kong from 1948 to 1961. Formed in 1948, the airline operated two

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA- ...

seaplanes from

Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal The Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (; ), also known as the ''Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal'', ''Macau Ferry Terminal'' or ''Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier'' in Chinese (), is a ferry terminal located at Porto Exterior, Sé, Macau, China. History The ...

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 ...

(old location using a ramp into the harbour) to

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply K ...

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 ...

. ''

Miss Macao ''Miss Macao'' () was a Catalina seaplane owned by Cathay Pacific and operated by subsidiary Macau Air Transport Company. On 16 July 1948 it was involved in the first hijacking of a commercial aircraft. Piracy for robbery and ransom was th ...

'', one of the MATCO's seaplane was lost in a hijacking. In 1960 ownership by Cathay Pacific ended with

Roger Lobo Sir Rogério Hyndman Lobo, CBE, JP (15 September 1923 – 18 April 2015), generally known as Roger Lobo, was a British Hong Kong businessman, philanthropist and politician. He was a member of the Urban Council, Executive Council and Legisl ...

and

Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun (; 25 November 192126 May 2020) was a Hong Kong and Macau billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa. Ho was nicknamed variou ...

as new owners with the airline renamed as Macau Air Transport Company (Hong Kong) Limited. The introduction of a new runway at Kai Tak and conditions in Macau were the beginning of the end of MATCO and service continued until October 1961 when the airline ceased operations. The airline remained registered in Hong Kong up to January 1964 and all remaining aircraft were de-registered by 1967.

Fleet

MATCO operated two

Canadian Vickers Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada from 1911 until 1944. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. Canadair absorbed the Canadian Vi ...

CBV-1A Canso (c. 1944 from

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as OA-10A Catalina (#44-34081) and later to USN (#68045), later with

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

and acquired by Cathay Pacific in 1946) in 1948. * VR-HDT - Miss Macao crashed and written off in 1948 * VR-HDH - acquired from RCAF November 1946 by Cathay Pacific; sold to

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Bran ...

1962 as VH-SBV and retired in 1966 and then used as firefighting trainer until 1975, then displayed at

Museum of Transport & Technology The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a transport and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum h ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand from 1976 to 1986 and now at the

Air Force Museum of New Zealand The Air Force Museum of New Zealand, formerly called The Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum, is located at Wigram, the RNZAF's first operational base, in Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. It opened on 1 April 1987 as part of t ...

since 1987. With the removal of the Catalina seaplanes, MATCO operated as a freight airline and acquired a new aircraft: * VR-HFP -

Piaggio Aerospace Piaggio Aerospace, formerly known as Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aer ...

P.136-L2 was ordered in 1960 and in service in 1961 and remained in Hong Kong until 1967.

References

{{Airlines of Hong Kong Airlines established in 1948 Airlines disestablished in 1961 Cathay Pacific Defunct airlines of Hong Kong Defunct seaplane operators 1948 establishments in Hong Kong 1961 disestablishments in Hong Kong