Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Japan’s Aso Kumamoto Airport yesterday became sister airports following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two airport operators in Taipei.
The MOU was signed by Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) chairman Yang Wei-fuu (楊偉甫) and Kyushu Kumamoto International Airport Co president Hideaki Yamakawa, making the Japanese airport the Taoyuan airport’s 15th sister airport.
“The signing of the MOU is an important milestone that would deepen Taiwan and Japan’s cooperation in economics, trade and culture,” Yang said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) investment in a new fab in Kumamoto has created greater demand for air transportation between the two hubs, with passenger traffic increasing more than threefold from about 45,000 people last year to more than 140,000 in the first nine months of this year, he said.
The upsurge in passenger traffic has brought about more collaboration opportunities between the two airports, Yang said, thanking officials from the Japanese airport for visiting Taiwan and proposing the signing of an MOU.
The MOU marks a starting point for Taiwan and Japan to broaden and bolster cooperation in the high-tech industry, he said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
TIAC has upgraded its airport facilities and services in line with customer needs and expects to learn from its exchanges with Aso Kumamoto Airport, Yang said.
Yamakawa said he was happy to participate in the signing ceremony, thanking Yang, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Department of Navigation and Aviation Director Han Chen-hua (韓振華), Kumamoto Prefectural Government Department of Planning and Development Director Yoshiyuki Tominaga, and other guests and staff.
Aso Kumamoto Airport is dedicated to building itself into the gateway for the world to Kumamoto, he said.
A new terminal at the airport started operating in March, with a section designed for passenger service and another one for commercial activities to provide more convenient services for tourists and business travelers, Yamakawa said.
The MOU would facilitate Aso Kumamoto Airport’s efforts in developing local economies, tourism and cultures, he said, expecting the ties and cooperation between the two airports to evolve into exchanges between governments, industries and companies of both sides.
Han said the signing of the MOU symbolizes deeper ties between Taiwan and Japan in terms of tourism, airline services, economics and trade.
Japan is the top travel destination for Taiwanese, with more than 4 million Taiwanese visiting Japan in the first eight months of this year, he said.
From January to last month, more than 1 million Japanese visited Taiwan, a nearly 50 percent increase from last year, Han said.
The number of flights between Taiwan and Japan has increased to 773 per week, surpassing the previous record of 709 flights before the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that there are at least 12 weekly flights between Taoyuan and Kumamoto.
The MOU is expected to increase exchanges of experience in airport services, operations and management between the two airports, Han said, adding that it is Taoyuan International Airport’s first MOU with a Kyushu airport and the fourth with a Japanese airport.
Tominaga expressed his appreciation for Taiwan providing aid to Kumamoto after an earthquake in April 2016.
Aso Kumamoto Airport is representative of the prefecture’s resilience in bouncing back from the quake, he said.
Exchanges between Taiwan and Japan thrived following TSMC’s decision to set up a fab in Kumamoto in 2021 and have extended from economics to culture, he said.
Aso Kumamoto Airport resumed scheduled flights between Kumamoto and Taoyuan in September last year, which are provided by China Airlines and Starlux Airlines, Tominaga said, adding that more than 180,000 passengers from Taiwan had used these flights.
The signing of the MOU would benefit Kumamoto and open doors to more collaborative opportunities between two sides, he said, adding that the Kumamoto Prefectural Government would do its best to help both airports prosper and develop.
(Taoyuan International Airport special report)
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and