MACAO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Macao International Airport (MIA) had the busiest Spring Festival in 2019 with new record set in daily passenger volume in this period, MIA public information department said here on Tuesday.

The airport said during the holidays from Feb. 5 to 10, or the first six days of Chinese Lunar New Year, MIA welcomed 180,000 passengers and handled over 1,300 flight movements, both grew by 18 percent respectively comparing to the traffic in the same period in lunar calendar of 2018.

MIA also set new record in daily passenger volume on Feb. 10, by handling over 32,100 passengers, which breaks single-day record since its operation.

The airport said to cope with the mounting traffic pressure, the extra flights operated from and to Macao during the Spring Festival was tripled over last year.

MIA said that it expanded the air network in 2019 by adding three new international routes in the first quarter, including Wenzhou of China, Chiang Rai of Thailand and Cebu of the Philippines. China Southern Airlines and Juneyao Airlines will also add new routes to Macao in the second quarter of 2019.

In the second and third quarter of 2019, the airport will continue to have new carriers gradually adding new routes and operations to Macao.