Overview - Viva Macau

Viva Macau, an international airline headquartered in Macau, SAR, was founded in 2004 and was the first Asian airline to embrace the concept of a long haul, low cost airline model. In that respect it has necessarily had to make adjustments to the basic short haul model, with two class service and cargo operations, as well as an extensive agency strategy.

The carrier commenced flying in November 2006 and currently operates from Macau to Jakarta, Male and Pusan as well as Haiphong and Phuket on charter operations.  It most recently announced service to Sydney, beginning 15 Aug-07 (using a local marketing agent, the International Charter Group (ICG), which operates its website In Australia).


Viva Macau operates two Boeing767s with two classes of cabin service, Star and Superstar. Superstar Class is the airline's premium cabin, offering a more comfortable seat, greater legroom and priority check in. The two B767 variants provide Viva Macau with the range and capacity mix to successfully implement the airlines business initiative to serve both long haul and regional markets.

Viva Macau aims to capitalise on rising travel to and from Macau, the world's second biggest gaming hub after Las Vegas. Macau, with a local population of only around half a million, currently has 12,000 hotel rooms and expects to have 54,000 rooms within the next decade, as the number of casinos and resorts grows.

Discount carriers AirAsia and Tiger Airways serve Macau on short haul city pairs, but will not be competition for Viva Macau on its long haul routes. Sited at the mouth of the Pearl River and the edge of the Chinese Mainland’s massive population, the Macau base also offers Viva Macau access to exponential outbound traffic growth.

Viva Macau’s model – unusually for an LCC – includes carriage of cargo, which was projected to deliver 20% of its revenues. The airline first announced it was contracting out its belly space to a “freight management provider”, Lufthansa’s virtual airline subsidiary, Cargo Counts.  The strategy was to give Viva Macau access to a wider route network, and competitive rates. (Cargo Counts also provides a similar service to other low cost operators, Condor; regional Star Alliance member, Croatia Airlines; Portugal’s ACMI wetlease and charter company, euroAtlantic; Turkish LCC SunExpress; Malaysia’s AirAsia and ThaiAirAsia, potentially linking in the services of these carriers.) More recently however, it has announced that it works with freight management provider, European Cargo Services (ECS), linking it into the ECS network.

CEO Andrew Pyne, whose vision established the airline, was replaced as CEO on 12 Jun-07 by Con Korfiatis, formerly headed Qantas subsidiary, Singapore-based Jetstar Asia. Mr Pyne remains as an adviser.

Viva Macau has indicated that it is considering acquiring either the A350 or the B787 in an order for 12 additional aircraft capable of operating non-stop to the long haul destinations.
The airline’s shareholders include prominent local entities and businesses in Macau as well as MKW Capital, an international venture capital firm with a series of equity investments across a diversified portfolio of businesses in Macau.

Copyright Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation 

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