Macao airport sees 27% growth in cargo handling
( 2004-01-08 21:53) (Xinhua)
The Macao International Airport handled 141,223 tons of cargo in 2003,
up 27 percent over the previous year, while the volume of passenger
transport decreased by 30 percent, said an airport management official
here Thursday.
At a press conference, Chan Wai Leong, executive director of the Macao
International Airport Company (CAM), said that the CAM's cargo-handling
department had an "excellent" performance in 2003, adding that its
through-put in November reached record 19,511 tons.
However, the passenger transport of the airport experienced a most
difficult year since 1995 when the airport was put into use, with the
volume of passengers at 2.9 million, a 30 percent drop from 2002.
According to Chan, the decrease is mainly due to the outbreak of
the Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in last Spring in Asia, as the
SARS-ridden cities in China's mainland, Taiwan and Singapore are main
sources of passengers of the Macao airport.
As a result, the CAM saw a large margin of decline at 80 percent to 90
percent in its volume of passengers from April to June of 2003.
To overcome the difficulties, the CAM took various measures to lower
cost and rebuild the residents' confidence in travel by airplane, which
gradually helped the volume of passengers increase, especially in July and
August, said Chan.
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