At a press conference, Coutinho highlighted the discussion of the civil aviation activity bill as one of the "extremely important diplomas" of the next annual session of the Legislative Assembly, which begins on October 16.

Macau's international airport "in practice is a domestic airport", since there are no medium and long-haul flights and "the majority of operations are operated under a monopoly regime", lamented the deputy.

Currently, the majority of flights operated from Macau are destined for mainland China, with connections to Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

José Pereira Coutinho recalled that the casino gaming concession contracts for the next ten years, which came into force on January 1st, provide for betting on non-gaming elements and foreign visitors.

"To attract foreign tourists, direct flights are needed, as there were in the past, between Macau and Lisbon", argued the deputy, referring to flights operated by TAP in the 1990s, before the transition of the administration of the territory from Portugal to China, in 1999.

On October 31, 1998, TAP Air Portugal ended up cancelling the regular connection between Macau and Lisbon, after having accumulated losses of around 200 million patacas (23.6 million euros).

In June, the president of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), Pedro Costa Ferreira, said he would like to have direct flights between Portugal and southern China by 2025.

The director of Macau's Tourism Services also described the launch of direct flights with Portugal as "a dream", but highlighted that airlines are still recovering from "a very difficult period" due to the pandemic.