Air Macau
During the 1990s the Macau airport had a direct link to Europe. TAP Air Portugal, in cooperation with Sabena, started flying Airbus A340s to Lisbon via Brussels in April 1996, but within a few months the airlines were finding the route difficult to operate. For instance, TAP had not succeeded in aligning the flight timings with the schedules of Air Macau, which the Portuguese carrier partly owned. Air Macau passengers consequently could not connect smoothly onto the Lisbon flight and help fill the cabin. Additionally, the crew had to spend long layovers in Macau due to the low flight frequency. By 1997 TAP had changed the stopover to Bangkok, but it was still not making a profit. Although the Portuguese government initially ordered TAP to continue serving its then colony, the airline had withdrawn from Macau by early 1999.