Australia's Ansett Airlines is studying the feasibility of starting services to Macau's new but under-used international airport, partly due to its inability to secure new frequencies into Hong Kong.
Ansett's head of operations in the territory, Robert Evans, yesterday confirmed the airline was 'trying to understand' whether it would be viable to operate services between Macau and Australia.
The carrier is one of the first long-haul international airlines to openly admit to considering the option of the Macau airport, which has suffered from a lack of interest outside of regional carriers.
Ansett has for some time been pushing to expand the number of its services between Hong Kong and Sydney from five per week, but the attempts have so far not succeeded.
The airline has been keen for at least a daily service to Sydney from the territory, but has been persistently foiled in its attempts by the current aviation treaty set-up between Australia and Hong Kong.
Ansett is understood to have already experimented with offering services to Macau.