Affected by the global financial " tsunami", Bangkok Airways and Malaysia Airlines has either suspended or planned to suspend their daily Macao-bound flight services, the Macao Daily Post reported on Monday, quoting official information from the two airlines.
The daily quoted an official of the Thai flag-carrier's office in Macao as saying that the daily services between Macao and the capital of Thailand will stop operating starting from March 28 this year.
The official told the daily that they suspend the Macao route because "we don't have so many clients now that the economy is not doing well", and the number of passengers traveling between Macao and Bangkok has decreased significantly.
The Thai airline planned to resume its Macao-bound flight services between October and December this year, but it was still not decided, according to the daily.
Meanwhile, an official from the Malaysia Airlines office in Hong Kong also told the daily that it will suspend the Macao-Kuala Lumpur route by the end of March, to which the official did not explain the reason.
The Malaysia Airlines opened its direct route to Macao in November 1995, but suspended it in March 1998 due to low demand and unpredictability during the then Asian financial crisis. The airline resumed its Macao-bound service in November 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2009)
