Macao Airport Sees 27% Growth in Cargo Handling

January 8, 2004

Macao Airport Sees 27% Growth in Cargo Handling
China Daily, China


The Macao International Airport  handled 141,223 tons of cargo in 2003, up 27 
percent over the  previous year, while the volume of passenger transport 
decreased  by 30 percent, said an airport management official here Thursday.

At a press conference, Chan Wai Leong, executive director of  the Macao 
International Airport Company (CAM), said that the CAM's cargo-handling 
department had an "excellent" performance in 2003,  adding that its through-put 
in November reached record 19,511 tons. 

However, the passenger transport of the airport experienced a  most difficult 
year since 1995 when the airport was put into use,  with the volume of 
passengers at 2.9 million, a 30 percent drop  from 2002. 

 According to Chan, the decrease is mainly due to the outbreak  of the Sever 
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in last Spring in  Asia, as the SARS-ridden 
cities in China's mainland, Taiwan and  Singapore are main sources of 
passengers of the Macao airport. 

As a result, the CAM saw a large margin of decline at 80  percent to 90 percent 
in its volume of passengers from April to  June of 2003. 

To overcome the difficulties, the CAM took various measures to  lower cost and 
rebuild the residents' confidence in travel by  airplane, which gradually 
helped the volume of passengers increase, especially in July and August, said 
Chan.


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