Portuguese MP wants direct flights between Macau and Portugal

Portuguese Macau MP José Pereira Coutinho today defended direct flights to Portugal and warned that restrictions on the annual financial aid given to residents of the Chinese region will affect retirees in Portugal.

“We have to transform Macau International Airport, with direct air routes to Europe, namely to Portugal,” said Coutinho, after the presentation of the political program of the Nova Esperança list to the local parliament.

The lawyer said that the world's largest long-haul planes can now land in Macau, but that the airport lacks space to park the aircraft, a problem he said he hopes will be resolved with the expansion of the infrastructure.

The airport expansion, launched in November, involves the construction of a landfill covering more than 129 hectares and is expected to be completed in 2030, increasing capacity from 9.6 million to 13 million passengers per year.

“We hope that in the future it will not be necessary to travel to Hong Kong to catch an international flight to Europe or America and we can start our journey in Macau, which is our home,” said Coutinho.

Macau airport currently has scheduled passenger flights operated by 27 airlines to 41 destinations in mainland China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

On the other hand, Coutinho criticized the local Government's decision to restrict the financial aid given annually to people with resident status to those who have resided in the region for at least 183 days in 2024.

The measure provides for exceptions, including for those living in the nine mainland Chinese cities integrated into the Guandong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area project and for those studying at universities abroad.

But Coutinho warned that the exceptions did not eliminate all injustices, particularly cases involving retirees living in Portugal.

The MP gave the example of a former Portuguese soldier, “almost 90 years old”, who worked for 40 years as a police officer in Macau, but who is not entitled to financial aid because he went to live with his daughter in Portugal, after being widowed.

“Do you think it’s fair?” Coutinho asked journalists.

Nova Esperança’s political program also advocates “a more in-depth implementation” of Macau’s role as a platform for cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries, “with greater participation from the population and businesspeople”.

Nova Esperança was one of the eight candidacies validated by the Legislative Assembly's Electoral Affairs Committee (CAEAL).

Four years ago, there were 19 lists of candidates for the Legislative Assembly (AL), although five lists and 21 candidates – 15 of whom were pro-democracy – were later excluded for “not defending the Basic Law” and not being “faithful to the MSAR [Macau Special Administrative Region]”.