Passenger traffic at Macau International Airport fell by 13.9% year-on-year in the third quarter to 1.1 million passengers.
Aircraft movements fell by 18.6% to 9,849, says the airport, while freight traffic fell by 38.7% to 14,071 tonnes.
The start of direct flights on 31 August between mainland China and Taiwan has led to "losses on the transfer traffic segment", says the airport. The H1N1 pandemic also continues to be a challenge, it adds.
However, Macau airport points out that the fall was not as steep as the drops in the first two quarters of 2009. "These improvements reflect that air traffic demand is steadily rising along with the economic recovery," it says.
The airport is planning incentives to attract more airlines and is exploring new routes with carriers. Air Macau, for example, began thrice-weekly services to Nanning in October.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
