Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, who is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council (ExCo), has announced that the government has finished drafting a bill that proposes to liberalise Macau’s civil aviation sector.
The bill will be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) in due course for debate, review and vote.
Cheong made the announcement during a press conference at Government Headquarters on Friday.
The Macau government decided in 2018 that it would liberalise the city’s civil aviation sector, when the Macau Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) told Air Macau, the city’s flag carrier, that the government had decided not to renew its monopoly concession, which was then initially scheduled to expire in November 2020.
Air Macau’s 25-year monopoly was granted in 1995, when Macau was still under temporary Portuguese administration.
However, the Macau Civil Aviation Authority announced in May 2020 that the government had decided to extend Air Macau’s monopoly concession for three years, because it was still drafting a new piece of legislation on liberalising Macau’s civil aviation sector, as well as with the aim of ensuring the stability of the civil aviation sector which was then affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2020, the Official Gazette (BO) published a brief extract of an agreement on the local government’s granting of a three-year conditional extension of Air Macau’s exclusive concession.
The three-year conditional extension started on November 9, 2020. According to Air Macau’s air transport public service concession agreement’s first clause cited by the extract, which was published in the Official Gazette on October 14, 2020, the concession’s extension is slated to be valid for three years, or until the day when a new legal regime on a competition-based system for Macau’s air transport takes effect during the three-year period.
‘Licensing’ system
During Friday’s press conference, Cheong said that the Executive Council has completed its discussion of a new bill regulating Macau’s civil aviation activities.
Cheong noted that the current versions of the city’s civil aviation regulations have been in force for around 20 years. With the aim of gradually implementing its policy of liberalising Macau’s civil aviation sector, Cheong said, the local government was planning to “licence” the setting-up and operations of more airlines headquartered in Macau.
Consequently, Cheong said, the local government has drafted the new bill, which will regulate Macau’s air passenger transport service.
According to Cheong, the bill proposes the “licensing” of companies operating commercial air passenger transport services.
Also addressing Friday’s press conference, AACM President Pun Wa Kin noted that while the city’s current civil aviation regulations only permit an exclusive concession, the new bill will enable the “licensing” of additional airlines headquartered in Macau.
Pun said that the government expects the new civil aviation legislation to be able to take effect – following its passage by the legislature – before the three-year extension of Air Macau’s monopoly concession is slated to expire in November this year.
Pun also said that the local government expects the new civil aviation law to enable Macau to be served by more international passenger air routes.
This photo taken in April shows the local airport’s apron in Taipa. – Photo: Tony Wong
