The renewal of Air Macau’s franchise, which has allowed it the position of sole home airline for the MSAR, will happen in 2020 and could leave room for another airline to enter the city’s aviation market, according to an interim report from consultants on the city’s future industrial development, cited by the South China Morning Post.
An academic interviewed by the publication noted that: “As Air Macau is mainly controlled by Air China and is also a partner of Cathay Pacific, the fact there is only one airline that has a dominant market position in Hong Kong and Macau suggests there should be a more liberalised regime for the operation of new airlines in Macau.” Dr. Law Cheung-kwok, a Chinese University aviation policy expert also told the publication that “I would advocate for the liberalisation of the number of airlines and other supporting services in aviation operations,” in the MSAR. The airport is currently undergoing an expansion that will increase its capacity to 7.5 million passengers per year, having in late May launched a tender for a fixed base operator for both business and general aviation for a sub-concession term lasting six years.