On February 9, the Portuguese Consul General in Macau, Alexandre Leitão, met with the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Airport Authority (AAHK), Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, and the person responsible for developing new routes.
“[The meeting in Hong Kong was an] opportunity to discuss matters of mutual interest,” said the consulate in a message posted on Facebook. When asked by the Macau press if the two parties had discussed 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 stated that it has been seeking to “establish contacts with airlines and global sector business partners, 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 mentioned that it has been working with the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese region to “establish new air service agreements or expand existing ones.” Currently, Hong Kong has no air service 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 extensive air network.” On April 3, 2025, the first long-haul cargo route between Macau and Madrid commenced, operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
At that time, the Ethiopian Airlines Country Director for China, Aman Wole Gurmu, emphasized that Macau is “an important platform” for economic and commercial cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Three weeks after the launch of the flight between Madrid and Macau, Alexandre Leitão expressed regret that the connection does not include Lisbon or Porto as destinations.
The 2021 census indicated over 2,200 people born in Portugal living in Macau. The last estimate given to Lusa by the Portuguese Consulate General pointed to about 155,000 holders of Portuguese passports among the residents of Macau and Hong Kong.
Both the Macau Tourism Services and several deputies—including the Portuguese José Pereira Coutinho, the most voted in the September elections—have called for the launch of passenger flights to Portugal.
TAP once operated twice weekly flights between Lisbon and Macau in the 1990s. However, the route was suspended on October 31, 1998, with the airline accumulating losses of around 200 million patacas (21 million euros).
