Taichung and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airports scored the lowest in terms of customer satisfaction in an annual survey released by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).
In the survey, respondents criticized Taichung International Airport for its inconvenient ground transportation services, which they said makes it difficult for travelers to get to Taichung City or any town nearby.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was criticized for its unclear directions to various facilities at the terminals.
The CAA uses the annual survey to gauge the services of the 18 airports under its administration.
It was conducted in April among approximately 1,200 travelers.
They were asked to evaluate airport services by checking 12 listed items, including an assessment on the attitudes of ground service personnel, processing speed in the customs-inspection-quarantine areas, accessibility of airport facilities and several other criteria.
The satisfaction rate for 18 airports was 91.52 percent, down 1.28 percentage points when compared with last year’s survey. Aside from ground transportation, passengers at Taichung International Airport were dissatisfied with some of the indoor facilities, including the restaurants.
In addition to instructions inside the terminal, passengers complained that the food at the restaurants at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was expensive and unappetizing.
They were also dissatisfied with ground transportation from the airport to nearby cities.
In response to the survey, Taichung Airport Office director Wang Yoe-ling (王幼琳) said the airport was at a remote location and has had fewer passengers over the years, so bus operators and restaurant owners at the airport have had a hard time sustaining their businesses.
Wang also said the airport was trying to build small duty-free shops inside the terminal, which are scheduled to be completed next month.
Taiwan Taoyuan Airport Office director Shiau Deng-ke (蕭登科) said that directions at the terminals had been a source of customer complaints for many years.
He said the office would overhaul the system next month when it starts a number of construction projects at the first terminal by dividing the airport into different districts and examining the directions in one district at a time.
The survey also rated service quality at smaller airports, including Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung (屏東), Lanyu (蘭嶼), Green Island (綠島), Chimei (七美), Wangan (望安), Beigan (北竿) and Nangan (南竿).
COLLABORATION: As TSMC is building an advanced wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, it needs to build a comprehensive supply chain in Europe, Joseph Wu said Taiwan is planning to team up with the Czech Republic to build a semiconductor cluster in the European country, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Friday. Wu, who led a Taiwanese delegation at the annual GLOBSEC Forum held in Prague from Friday to today, said in a news conference that Taiwan seeks to foster cooperation between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and its counterparts in Czechia. Such cooperation is expected to transform the country into one of the most important semiconductor clusters in Europe over the next three to five years, he added. As TSMC is building an advanced
A joint declaration by Pacific leaders was reissued yesterday morning with mentions of Taiwan removed after China slammed an earlier version as a “mistake” that “must be corrected.” After five days of talks in Tonga, a “cleared” communique was released on Friday that reaffirmed a 30-year-old agreement allowing Taiwan to take part in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). However, the wording immediately raised the ire of Chinese diplomats, who piled pressure on Pacific leaders to amend the document. The forum reissued the communique without explanation yesterday morning, conspicuously deleting the paragraph concerning the bloc’s “relations with Taiwan.” “It must be a
China lacks the ability to “fully” invade Taiwan as it does not have the equipment, but is bringing online advanced new weapons and has other options to threaten Taiwan, such as inspecting foreign cargo ships, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. In an annual threat assessment of China sent to lawmakers, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, the ministry said Beijing continues to hone skills such as joint command operations. “However, the use of tactics and strategies against Taiwan is still limited by the natural geographical environment of the Taiwan Strait and insufficient landing equipment and logistic capabilities,”
A tropical depression in waters east of the Philippines could develop into a tropical storm as soon as today and bring rainfall as it approaches, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, while issuing heat warnings for 14 cities and counties. Weather model simulations show that there are still considerable differences in the path that the tropical depression is projected to take. It might pass through the Bashi Channel to the South China Sea or turn northeast and move toward the sea south of Japan, CWA forecaster Yeh Chih-chun (葉致均) said, adding that the uncertainty of its movement is still high,