Macau, China, 29 March – The Macau Civil Aviation Authority said Sunday it had cancelled the operating license of low cost long haul airline Viva Macau, which has been operating since 2006 and Friday suspended all its flights.

The administrative decision follows the suspension Friday of several of the airline's flights due to a lack of payments for fuel since 2008, thus making departures from Macau to destinations such as Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Vietnam impossible.

Set up in 2004, via a sub-concession of Air Macau, Viva Macau has as shareholders groups from from Australia, Canada and Italy as well as individual investors from Macau.

Viva Macau, which is in a difficult economic situation, according to the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority is making it difficult to support affected passengers and is not cooperating with the authorities. Recently, Macau's Secretary of State for the Economy and Finance, Francis Tam, confirmed a loan of 200 million patacas (US$25 million) to Viva Macau to ensure it continued to operate.