The Macao International Airport recorded strong performance last month, driven by the soaring number of local residents making outbound tours and influx of visitors over the traditional Spring Festival which falls on February 12.
Latest figures from the airport show that passengers handled jumped roughly 30 percent year-on-year to 323,700 as aircraft movements increased 16.2 percent to 2,750 in February. An all-time high per day was seen on February 17 of 16,200 passengers handled by the port.
While flocks of inlanders rushed to the special administrative region around the red-letter day, large quantities of Macao people traveled to such tourist cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur. Macao has benefited from China's inland loosening control over the SAR-bound tours -- mainly by lifting sharply the number of travel agencies organizing the tours.
Last month, the Macao International Airport handled 5,110 tons of cargoes, a rise of 7.6 percent from a year ago.
Airport sources say that the port has witnessed ever-growing business since it was put into operation in November, 1995, much of it propelled by Taiwan passengers traveling between China's mainland and Taiwan via Macao.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) gave recently the airport a "full score" after launching the first-ever safety tests on its operations since the "September 11" terrorist attacks on the United States, covering public security, control, maintenance, personnel training, movable resources and other facilities.
With an investment of more than US$ one billion, the Macao airport was built on a patch of land reclaimed from the sea,consisting of a runway, two bridge approaches and a parking area.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2002)
