Jaunted

Airline News / LCCs / Airlines / Asia Travel / Low Cost Carriers / Viva Macau / Airline Industry / → All Tags

Viva Macau Runs Out Of Gas, Becomes Latest Airline To Fail

What was a distressing albeit kind of funny clusterfark last week: Viva Macau, stranding passengers because their planes ran out of gas, turned into the world's latest airline failure this morning. Late last week the now-defunct LCC announced to waiting passengers that they wouldn't be going to Australia and Japan as planned because, well, the airline couldn't pay for fuel.

The Macau government, which has maintained a large degree of autonomy from Beijing ever since Portugal ceded the municipality to China in 1999, stepped in with a cash infusion. The short-term bailout, which followed a previous one from January, let Viva Macau get many of their passengers to their destinations. But over the weekend the government apparently decided enough was enough, and they pulled the airline's operating license.

more ›

Airlines / Asia Travel / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Viva Macau / → All Tags

Asian LCCs: Twin Viva Macau Planes Become Quadruplets

Macau's teeny tiny Viva Macau is doubling its fleet, which means it's adding two planes. With the new pair, Viva will add to its current destinations in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia as well launching routes to India, Russia and the Middle East.

Viva Macau is actually one of the larger airlines in the Chinese SAR. That's because the government grants sole use of the airspace to Air Macau, which then leases the space to other carriers.

Viva Macau is still struggling to remain financially solvent, but executives hope booming tourism to the region--casinos and beaches draw droves of visitors--will help put the company in the black. We've seen the sudden deaths of too many US-based LCCs this year. Hopefully, for its sake, Macau is isolated geographically and financially from the rest of the world.

Related Stories:
· Macau Doubles Fleet, Staff [Macau Hub]
· Viva Macau is a Winner [Jaunted]

[Photo: tango-sierra]

Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Viva Macau / → All Tags

Viva Macau is a Winner

A relative new-comer to the budget airline market in Asia, Viva Macau is, as you'd expect, based in Macau, one of those it's-China-but-not-really spots on the south coast of the country. Viva Macau comes with the promising slogan "Simply Different" and it must be doing something right: It recently won a New Airline of the Year award from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Viva Macau flies from Macau to Jakarta, the Maldives and Sydney and has plans to expand to other long haul destinations including North America and Europe. In case you can't stand the thought of sitting in budget economy with no frills for the long haul, they also offer a Premium Class of ticket at a very non-budget price.

Related Stories:
· Viva Macau [Official Site]
· Viva Macau Awarded New Airline of 2007 [Daily News]
· Macau Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tango-Sierra]