Hong Kong airport confirmed this Monday, February 16th, to Lusa that it wants to launch new routes, a week after a meeting between the infrastructure leadership and the consul general of Portugal in Macau.
On February 9, Alexandre Leitão met with the executive director of the Hong Kong Airport Authority (AAHK), Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, and with the person responsible for developing new routes.
“[O encontro em Hong Kong foi uma] opportunity to address matters of mutual interest”, said the consulate, in a message published on the social network Facebook.
Asked by the Macau press whether the two parties had spoken about potential direct passenger flights between Hong Kong and Portugal, Alexandre Leitão did not reveal details about the meeting.
In a written response to questions from Lusa, AAHK said it has sought to “establish contacts with airlines and commercial partners in the global sector, including government authorities and airport operators”.
The aim is to “foster cooperative relationships in route development”, added a spokesperson for the Hong Kong airport operator.
AAHK also said that it has been working with the Government of the Chinese semi-autonomous region to “establish new air service agreements or expand existing ones”.
Hong Kong currently does not have any air services agreement with Portugal, unlike neighboring Spain, which signed a pact in 2018.
After launching flights to 30 new destinations in 2025, AAHK assured that it “will continue to expand its broad airline network”.
On April 3, 2025, the first long-distance cargo route between Macau and Madrid began, operated by Ethiopian airline Ethiopian Airlines.
On the occasion, the national director for China of Ethiopian Airlines, Aman Wole Gurmu, highlighted that Macau is “an important platform” for economic and commercial cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
China established the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) as a platform to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Portuguese-speaking states in 2003 and, in that same year, created the Macau Forum.
The body includes, in addition to China, the countries that make up the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP): Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor and, since 2022, Equatorial Guinea.
Three weeks after the launch of the flight between Madrid and Macau, Alexandre Leitão regretted that the connection was not destined for Lisbon or Porto.
The 2021 census indicates more than 2,200 people born in Portugal living in Macau. The latest estimate given to Lusa by the Consulate General of Portugal pointed to around 155 thousand Portuguese passport holders among residents of Macau and Hong Kong.
Both the Macau Tourism Board and several deputies – including the Portuguese José Pereira Coutinho, the most voted in the September elections – have called for the start of passenger flights with Portugal.
TAP flew twice a week between Lisbon and Macau in the 1990s. However, the connection would be suspended on October 31, 1998, with the company accumulating losses of around 200 million patacas (21 million euros).
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