Brett Hannan/MACAU
START-UP CARRIER Air Macau expects to add two narrow body aircraft a year to its fleet for the next five years. The new aircraft will almost certainly be additional Airbus A320s and A321s, says airline marketing executive Dominic Ching.
Air Macau, which now operates two A321s and will take delivery of two A320s by next April, has a three-phase development plan to make its mark, initially as a regional carrier.
The ace in the hand for the Portuguese colony's first carrier, is the ability to transport Taiwanese passengers into China - direct links between the two countries, are banned by Beijing. Air Macau now flies three times daily to Taipei and once daily to Beijing and Shanghai.
On 12 January, it will add a daily A320 flight to Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan, a fourth daily frequency to Taipei, and a daily flight to Xiamen. On 16 April, additional frequencies will be added to Taipei and Shanghai. Qingdao and Wuhan will eventually be Air Macau's fourth and fifth destinations in China.
Air Macau has stolen a march on Taiwanese competitors Eva Air and TransAsia, as its onward flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen can proceed with only a change of flight number. Passengers on the Taiwanese airlines will have less convenient transfers to CNAC, China Northern, Air China and, in January, China Northwest.
In its second phase, Air Macau will fly to Asian cities, possibly starting with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. With the arrival of additional aircraft, it will pursue phase three, introducing flights to the European gateway of Bangkok, in Thailand, and the North American gateway of Osaka, in Japan. Ching says that Air Macau will seek interline agreements with onward carriers, but details have not yet been agreed.
The carrier is intent on avoiding price wars. Its published fares to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen are nearly identical to fares charged by Hong-Kong-based Dragonair.
The airline is 51%-owned, by Chinese company Macau Aviation Services; 25% by Portuguese company SEAP, and 24% by Macau-based interests.
After five years as a regional carrier - by which time Macau will have reverted to Chinese rule - Air Macau will consider wide body aircraft for long-haul routes.
Source: Flight International
