Macau flag carrier Air Macau has been granted a three-year conditional extension of its exclusive concession by the local government.
An brief extract of the agreement was published in the Macau Official Gazette (BO) today. The extension takes effect on November 9.
According to the public service air transport concession agreement's first clause cited by the extract, the exclusive concession will be valid for three years, or until the day when a new legal regime on a competition-based concession system for Macau's air transport takes effect during the three-year period.
The extract was published by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF).
The Macau Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) announced two years ago that it was planning to liberalise Macau's passenger air concession system.
However, the government said in May that Air Macau's monopoly concession would be extended for three years as the respective legislation still needed to be amended, and also in order to ensure the stability of the civil aviation sector which has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macau has been affected by the novel coronavirus crisis since late January.
Air Macau's monopoly was first granted in March 1995, when Macau was still under Portuguese administration.
According to the CAPA website, Air Macau is majority-owned by Air China Limited, with minority shareholders including EVA Air and the Macau government.
The airline operates a network covering destinations predominantly in North Asia, mainland China and Taiwan in particular. Air Macau uses a fleet of narrow-body Airbus aircraft.
