Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport handled a record 6.25 million transits last year, thanks to continuing demand from passengers traveling between North America and Southeast Asia, its operator said.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC), which runs the nation’s main gateway, said that last year’s figure was 17.5 percent higher than the 2019 level before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which was 5.31 million.
TRANSPORT HUB
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Among the transit passengers served by the airport last year, 37.9 percent came from North America while 35.8 percent were from Southeast Asia, highlighting Taiwan’s crucial role as a key transportation hub in East Asia, TIAC president Fan Hsiao-lun (范孝倫) said.
EVA Airways contributed substantially to this trend, accounting for about 64 percent of transit passengers following expansion of its routes to the US, TIAC figures showed.
China Airlines made up about 33 percent of transit passengers, while their smaller rival Starlux Airlines, which opened only two US routes last year, accounted for 2 percent.
Foreign airlines transported only 1 percent of transit passengers.
Meanwhile, overall passenger volume at Taoyuan airport rose from 5.3 million in 2022, when Taiwan’s borders had not fully opened, to 35.35 million last year, which was 73.11 percent of the 2019 level, TIAC said.
While the company did not give a forecast about when its passenger volume would return to 2019 levels, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said in the middle of last year that it expected a full recovery next year.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC
By passenger traffic, Taoyuan airport likely ranked 15th worldwide last year, compared with 10th in 2019, TIAC said.
The busiest airport worldwide last year was Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, with 86.8 million passengers, the latest report from Airports Council International (ACI) showed.
Rounding out ACI’s top-five list were Heathrow Airport (79.1 million) in the UK, Istanbul Airport (78.4 million) in Turkey, Charles de Gaulle Airport (67.4 million) in France and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (61.8 million) in the Netherlands.
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