Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is falling behind its competitors as a major transfer hub in the Asia-Pacific region and needs to attract more foreign and budget airlines, an Institute of Transportation study found.
The study on the transfer traffic of US and Japanese carriers in the Asia-Pacific region found that international airlines have been shifting their focus to the region, as they see Southeast Asia and India as their main sources of growth over the next decade.
In line with that trend, airports in the region have been striving to boost capacity, increase flights and create new routes in the hopes of attracting more transit passengers, said the study, which was published in May.
Photo: Ben Blanchard, Reuters
Citing 2019 data, the study said that, as a regional transit hub, Taoyuan airport was trailing the four other major airports in the region: Hong Kong International Airport, Narita International Airport in Japan, Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China, and Incheon International Airport in South Korea.
For example, Taoyuan airport had a 20 percent share of the transit flights from the US to Vietnam, while Incheon Airport had a more than 50 percent share, the study said.
In terms of transit flights to the US, Narita airport topped the list with links to 23 US airports, followed by Incheon, Hong Kong and Shanghai airports with 11 to 17 links to US destinations, while Taoyuan airport had only nine links to US airports, the study showed.
The report said that Taoyuan airport should build its links with foreign airlines, including budget carriers.
It also advised the airport to provide travelers with more choices to increase its transfer passenger numbers via codeshare flights.
Taoyuan airport, run by Taoyuan International Airport Corp, is funded by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, under which the Institute of Transportation falls.
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