Macau International Airport handled more than five million passengers in 2008, down by seven percent over the previous year, the Macao Daily Post reported.
The number of passengers using the airport as their final destination grew 13 per cent year-on-year to about 3.8 million during the period. The number of transit passengers, most of whom came from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, dropped 39 percent to 1.3 million, the daily said, quoting statistics from the facility’s management company, ADA. The drop in transit passengers is probably linked to the Chinese government’s decision during the autumn to allow direct flights between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. Previously travellers had been required to take indirect flights because of the long-standing political dispute between China and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province.
MIA’s cargo throughput decreased drastically by 44 percent year-on-year to just 100,767 tons last year. Airmail also dropped 11 percent. MIA is majority-owned by the Special Administrative Region government, and currently has a maximum annual passenger capacity of six million.
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