Commercial flight movements at the Macao International Airport decreased by two percent year-on-year to 36,024 in the first nine months of 2008, according to the figures Thursday released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The figures showed that China's Taiwan and the Chinese mainland were the major air routes during the period, accounting for 38 percent and 27 percent of the total commercial flights to and from Macao.

Helicopter flights between Macao and Hong Kong grew marginally by one percent year-on-year to 12,787, while those between Macao and the mainland dropped 10 percent to 2,037.

Between January and September, traffic flow by land between Macao and the mainland went up by two percent year-on-year to 2.848 million vehicle trips and the Border Gate, a land port that connects Macao to the mainland, was the major passage that took up 81 percent of the total.

Meanwhile, passenger transport by sea between Hong Kong and Macao decreased by two percent compared with the first nine months of last year to 63,865 ferry trips, and those between Macao and the mainland dropped by 24 percent to 15,641 trips.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)