Air Macau (NX, Macau International) chairman Zheng Yan says his airline is still looking into the possibility of longhaul flights. Speaking to Macau's Business Daily, Zheng noted, however, that their launch would depend on there being adequate demand to warrant the use of widebody aircraft.

“We would also like to fly to India, Melbourne and other major cities in the Asia Pacific. However, there is not a supporting point in the market,” Zheng said. “The Macau market is small so we can never be like Hong Kong International, Beijing Capital or Shanghai Pudong in terms of developing long-haul flights. Although we don’t have the intention to launch long-haul flights for now, I think [demand] for wide-body airplanes would come naturally when the aviation network of narrow-body planes reaches a certain level.”

Zheng added that venturing into the longhaul market may become necessary given increasingly cut-throat competition from regional budget carriers such as Thai AirAsia (FD, Bangkok Don Mueang), Tigerair Taiwan (IT, Taipei Taoyuan), Jetstar Pacific (Ho Chi Minh City), AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International), and Cebu Pacific Air (5J, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) whose collective capacity on routes out of Macau International equates to over 20%.

In the meantime, the CEO said Air Macau would focus on providing transit traffic to South East Asia - Thailand and Vietnam in particular - where the outbound Chinese tourist market has been particularly strong.

At present, the Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) subsidiary operates a fleet of four A319-100s, three A320-200s, and ten A321-200s on flights to twenty-six destinations across China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.