MACAO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Macao International Airport (MIA) has handled more than 2.33 million passengers in the first quarter, representing 17 percent year-on-year growth, MIA said on Thursday.

The airport said in a statement that the flight movements at MIA also recorded an increase of 17 percent year-on-year to over 18,000 movements in the first quarter. The daily average traffic of the airport reached 25,000 passengers and 205 flight movements.

MIA added that with the continuous increase of air routes and new airlines entering the market, the markets of Chinese mainland, China's Taiwan region and Southeast Asia recorded increases of 28 percent, 4 percent and 14 percent respectively compared to same period of last year.

Passengers traveling with conventional and low-cost airlines increased by 11 percent and 29 percent in the first quarter respectively.

MIA said it will continue to develop a diversified aviation market, and cooperate with airline companies to develop other potential medium and long-haul charter routes to help develop Macao as a world tourism and leisure center.

It will also accelerate the pace of airport facility improvement in the future to meet the demand of growing passenger traffic, and provide new services such as a check-in center at Macao Border Inspection Building on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.