To cope with the demand of air transport between the inland and Macao, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) and the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) meet regularly every year to discuss the air services and the market demand between the two places. This year, the two authorities met on 22 September in Beijing to hold discussions and came up with preliminary conclusions. The two delegations met on 17 November in Macao to continue the discussions and signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at 16:00 on the same day. The two parties also agreed to continue to hold regular meetings in the future to strengthen cooperation. The signatories were the Acting President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong and the Deputy Director General of the Transport Department of CAAC, Mr. He Jinri. The new MOU greatly enhances the liberalization of the air transport market between the two places: the destinations have been increased from 31 to 37; the capacity has also been raised, with passenger and cargo combination services increased to 539 flights per week (a rise of 82%) and all-cargo services increased from 25 to 50 flights per week. In what regards airline designation, the old MOU only allowed each party to designate one airline to operate. But the new MOU states that since the winter schedule of 2004, each party is allowed to designate two airlines to operate, except for Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and since the summer schedule of 2006, all designated airlines are allowed to operate services to all destinations. Co-terminalization on the service points is allowed with the exception of the following points: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. But the designated airlines of Macao do not have traffic rights between the co-terminal destinations. In the area of airline cooperation, the designated airlines of both places can cooperate with each other through code-sharing, except third party code-sharing. The above arrangement has put into consideration the potential development of the Macao aviation industry under the present environment and paved way for big expansion in the future. Apart from the above conclusions, the two authorities also discussed issues such as allowing foreign airlines to fly to the inland through Macao. But due to technical factors, CAAC is not able to fulfill all the requests of the Macao side at the present stage. Despite this, the two parties agreed to discuss the issues in the future. Apart from the two signatories, the delegations also comprised: from Macao -- the Director of Air Transport and International Relations of AACM, Mr. António Menano and the Consultant of Air Transport and International Relations of AACM, Mr. Ren Jinfang; from China -- the Vice Director of the Office of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of CAAC, Ms. Wu Li, the Deputy Director of the Domestic Air Transport Division of the Transport Department of CAAC, Ms. Su Hong, the Deputy Director of the Air Traffic Flow Management of Air Traffic Management Bureau, Mr. Zhang TongGuo and the Officer of the Domestic Air Transport Division of the Transport Department of CAAC, Ms. Shang KeJia. Representatives from CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd., Administration of Airports Ltd., Air Macau Co. Ltd. and East Asia Airlines Ltd. also attended the signing ceremony.
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