The construction of the north extension of the Macau International Airport (MIA) passenger terminal building has now been topped out aiming to increase capacity of the airport, while the number of travellers has continued to increase in the first half of the year, with four new airlines flying to the city.

The MIA passenger terminal is now progressing the North Extension project. The 4-storey north extension building - occupying approximately 14,000 square metres of floor space – was officially commenced in November 2015, with the main structure of the building already completed. Installation of the non-structural exterior façade is currently being undertaken with the entire bare shell scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 2016. Interior fit-out works will be performed at a later stage – comprising arrival hall, departure lounge, commercial area, offices, nursery, conference rooms and emergency operations centre.

Following completion of the entire North Extension project, slated for the second quarter of 2017, the designated passenger handling capacity is expected to be increased from 6 million to around 7.5 - 7.8 million persons. The project will include a new passenger boarding bridge, thus there will be a total of five boarding bridges commissioned after the completion. The North Extension building will be integrated with the current Passenger Terminal Building to provide a uniform, seamless architectural appearance of both the interior and exterior of the building.

Macau International Airport (MIA) has recorded steady passenger growth in the first half of 2016. In the first six months of 2016, MIA handled 3.25 million passenger movements, an increase of 16 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2015. Aircraft movements exceeded 28,000 landings and takeoffs, 6 per cent higher than a year before. In the first half of 2016, passenger traffic was galvanized by the continued growth of passenger traffic to and from Mainland China, the Taiwan region and Southeast Asia, which recorded 3 per cent, 25 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, over the same period last year.

Macau International Airport attracted four new air carriers during the first six months of 2016. These were Vietjet, Lion Air, JSC Royal Flight Airlines and Nok Airlines. Lion Air launched Macao to Manado (Indonesia) charter service from July 2016, providing three flights every two weeks. JSC Royal Flight has increased its passenger flight service between Macao and Moscow to three flights a week.