Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM) launched the kick-off meeting for the design phase of the Terminal 2 and Heliport of Macau International Airport (MIA) on 18 Aug 2020, marking a significant milestone for the Pac On project.

The current designed passenger capacity of MIA is about 7.8 million. In 2019, the annual passenger volume of the airport has already exceeded 9.6 million. Though the current epidemic has led to a dramatic drop in air traffic, a continuous growth in the passenger volume is expected in the long run. In order to solve the constraint of insufficient capacity and support the development of the airport, the Government of Macau Special Administrative Region informed MIA to study the feasibility of modifying part of the Taipa Ferry Terminal into the second airport passenger terminal building. At the same time, the management and operation of the Heliport Facilities located in Taipa Ferry Terminal will be handed over to CAM.

In line with the Government intention and to promote the relevant renovation works, CAM set up the “Pac On Terminal Preparation Office” in May 2020 and invited a professional consultant company in the field of civil aviation airport engineering design to submit the Project Approval Report for the design and technical support service for Terminal 2 (T2) and Heliport of Macau International Airport in June and the report was then approved.

In view of the fact that the project involves two major gateways of Macau: Taipa Ferry Terminal and Macau International Airport, and the Taipa Ferry Terminal is large in scale, so the modification project may involve changes on major layouts and updates on systems which demands a high technical and professional requirements. Therefore, Pac On Terminal Preparation Office has launched a tender to invite relevant professional consultant company for the design and technical support of T2 and heliport project, which is critical to the overall process of project design and implementation. The tender evaluation was completed at the end of July. According to the tender requirement and evaluation criteria, the Design and Technical Support Service for T2 and Heliport is awarded to the joint venture of “CCCC-Airport Investigation and Design Institute Co., Ltd” and “CCCC-FHDI Engineering Co., Ltd” that have extensive experience in international and domestic airport design. This design project is divided into two stages which are the preliminary design and detailed design and is expected to be completed at the end of this year. Simultaneously, Pac On Terminal Preparation Office is going to conduct research on selecting suitable airlines to operate in Terminal 2 and also trying to introduce intelligent airport equipment and systems to enhance the passenger travel experience.

The Pac On project includes the transformation and equipment installation in airport dedicated areas, which are the check-in area, security check area, waiting lounge, baggage hall, and the optimization of heliport facilities. It will also strengthen the sea and air transport transfer service from the Taipa Ferry Terminal to the airport. Sea to Air or Air to Sea transfer passengers do not need to go through immigration and customs procedures for transiting to other countries or places in the Greater Bay Area. Upon the project’s completion, the dedicated operating area of Terminal 2 and heliport will reach about 56,000 square meters with a dedicated roadway of 660 meters connecting to the airport and with an annual capacity of 2 million passengers. The whole project is expected to be in full operations at the end of 2021, which will then divert some of the passengers from Terminal 1 so as to improve the terminal capacity and service level. It will also help to build Pac On Ferry Terminal into a land-sea-air comprehensive three-dimensional transportation hub so as to better serve the citizens of Macau and the Greater Bay Area.