China carrier plans flights to Hawaii

Viva Macau, a discount airline in the former Portuguese colony, aims to start flights to Hawaii and Russia, becoming the first Asian budget carrier to express interest in flying to the two destinations.

The Macau, China-based carrier is also planning flights to Northeast Asia, including Japan and South Korea, as well as Australia, the Middle East, and Europe, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Pyne said today.

"We are supremely bullish about Macau's potential as the low-cost carrier hub for the region," Pyne said at a low-cost airline symposium in Singapore. Hotel rooms in Macau are set to increase almost eightfold to 75,000 in about seven years, Pyne said, suggesting growth in air travel demand.

The carrier is also "focusing very seriously on Honolulu as a destination," since there are no direct flights to Hawaii from South China, Pyne said.

Viva Macau, which plans to start Asian flights in June before expanding to the Middle East and Europe, seeks to fly to routes not served by discount carriers AirAsia Bhd. and Tiger Airways Pte. Viva Macau, one of at least 18 in the region which have emerged in last four years, wants to tap rising travel to and from Macau, the world's biggest gaming hub after Las Vegas.

Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, ended Stanley Ho's four-decade casino monopoly in 2001. Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts and other companies are building gaming resorts in Macau.

The number of tourist arrivals in Macau surged by two-fifths to a record 16.7 million in 2004 after China's government made it easier for mainland residents to visit Macau.

Macau's economy expanded a record 28 percent in 2004 to $10.3 billion, with gambling accounting for half the total.

The carrier is also betting that travelers from Russia will be enticed by Macau's visa-on-arrival policy, Pyne said.

"Several years ago, there were no Russians traveling," Pyne said. "Today, in Thailand, the figure is about 15,000 a year," helped partly by the visa-on-arrival service for Russian passport holders, he said.

Viva Macau aims to fly to Moscow and the southeast Russian city of Vladivostok.