As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic started to ease, air travel resumed. From January to last month, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport recorded 28.24 million passengers, with the number of travelers reaching 69.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
In Asia, the commercial aircraft market size has also recovered, with Taiwanese companies having acquired new aircraft to meet the demand. The number of transit passengers is increasing and the government has offered measures to assist foreigners visiting Taiwan.
By the end of this year, the number of total passengers could reach 35 million and growth is set to continue. In 2026, passenger volume is projected to reach 54 million, which is 5 million more than the pre-pandemic level. To meet the demand, the airport must expand its space and service capacity.
First, even before the pandemic, more than 12 million travelers relied on the airport’s Terminals 1 and 2. Although these terminals went through reconstruction and expansion, the work is far from sufficient. The facilities that require more space, such as passport control areas and security checks, should be improved. The Arrival Hall at Terminal 2 has also not been upgraded. Travelers returning to or entering Taiwan still spend too much time waiting for clearance.
Second, today, more flights arrive at peak hours, with ever more transit passengers coming in. The baggage handling area in the basement is far from adequate. Passengers have to spend a long time waiting for their luggage. The operation area for handling baggage and the area’s circulation must be improved.
Third, the space for transit flights should be increased, and so should the service capacity for transit passengers. Nowadays, no security checks are required for transit passengers entering Taiwan directly from the US. This has mitigated the situation and enabled the airport to be less packed in the morning. However, the government might have to tighten security due to the situation in the Middle East. The airport must make adjustments as soon as possible.
Also, in recent years, the importance of border control cannot be over-emphasized. To prevent diseases and pests from entering Taiwan, inspection at the airport should be thoroughly carried out. Since the early stages of the spread of African swine fever, the Customs Administration has tightened border control measures. The inspection is done in a limited space in the immigration corridors. At busier times, this limited space would be even more congested — not a pleasant scene for the country’s gateway. Exclusive areas should be arranged for implementing border control, just like many other international airports.
Lastly, to accommodate the growing number of passengers, more workers should be hired by airline companies and airport agencies. Today, there is a shortage of accommodation facilities, work spaces, rest areas and parking spaces. Given that flights arriving and departing in the early morning or late at night are increasing, many employees commute by car. Reports from before the pandemic have already said that the airport should provide more parking spaces.
Thus, Terminal 1’s Departure Hall car parking lot and Terminal 2’s bus parking lot should be rebuilt with steel structures to create more space. Check-in counters and clearance facilities could be added so that passengers without checked bags, or who have already checked in, could enter and exit.
After the Terminal 2 bus parking lot is renovated, the parking lot for airport workers could be relocated to the upper floors. In doing so, more spaces would become available.
Wayne Chou is a former director of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.
Translated by Emma Liu
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS