When 25-year-old Jenny Liao (廖彩君) read in the news that officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport had been caught drinking and partying with private contractors while on duty, she thought it was probably part of a work culture at the airport that had been tolerated for a long time.
“Similar things may have happened before,” Liao said. “It [the incident] just happened to be the one that was exposed.”
Liao believes that more needs to be done to improve the image of the nation’s airport, which has been operating since 1979.
“Nothing at the airport is extraordinary or worth mentioning,” she said. “When you see the price of the food there, you think ‘well, it only takes 40 minutes to get to downtown Taipei, why eat here?’”
Liao’s observation echoed the comments made by Taiwanese gourmet Han Liang-lu (韓良露), who complained in a letter to the local media last year about the quality of food on offer at the airport. In her letter, she described it as “a complete rip-off” when she found that a bowl of beef noodle soup that cost NT$250 looked suspiciously as though it had been taken out of an instant noodle packet rather than made fresh.
However, the poor quality of food and misconduct of airport officials were only two of the major problems found at the airport.
Since last year, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has been inundated with criticism of its poorly maintained runways, lack of baggage carts and a leaky roof in one of its terminals.
Last month, a jet bridge at Terminal 2 collapsed, raising further questions about the soundness of airport facilities.
All these embarrassing reports caused the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to take action aimed at redeeming the airport’s reputation. For one, the ministry took the unprecedented step of appointing two deputy ministers — Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) and Chang Chiu-chun (張邱春) — to directly manage the operations of the airport until the new Taoyuan Aviation Office director assumes his or her post. Meanwhile, the ministry also established an Airport Improvement Group to help diagnose problems with the airport.
The group is headed by Aviation Safety Council chairman Chang Yu-hern (張有恆), who is also a former director-general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Those invited to join the taskforce include the presidents of China Airlines and EVA Air and the former chief executive of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) David Pang (彭定中). Newly appointed chief executive of the soon-to-be-established Airport Company Samuel Lin (林鵬良), as well as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) will also join the group in evaluating the airport.
Yeh said they would all work as volunteers and submit a joint report on the how to improve operations within three months.
Pang turned the AAHK into a professional airport management company, with shares in Zhuhai Airport in Guangdong Province and Hangzhou International Airport. Citing Pang’s experiences in managing Hong Kong International Airport, Yeh said he hoped Pang would interview key personnel at the Taiwan Taoyuan Airport to determine how best to proceed.
The Airport Improvement Group had its first meeting on Tuesday. Chang Yu-hern said he is confident Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s global ranking can be elevated from 27th to a top 10 placing once its problems are properly addressed.
When asked about executing the recommendations of the Airport Improvement Group and recruiting more capable individuals, Yeh reiterated that the ministry’s first step will be to establish a state-run airport company in November.
However, doubts have been expressed as to whether any real change can take place if the airport company continues to be run by the same civil servants. Some have said that their guaranteed job security makes them incapable of thinking innovatively.
Chang Yu-hern said that the misconducts of airport officials suggests there is an urgent need to review and improve the airport operations, which was one of the most advanced airports in Asia when it opened 30 years ago.
Chang said that a state-run airport company will allow only limited flexibility in its operations because it will still be bound by government regulations, including the Budget Act (預算法) and the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法). The ministry should actively seek to privatize the airport company by amending the relevant laws, he said.
A privatized airport firm would help increase the competitive edge of the airport he added.
“It would help bring in professional corporate management and generate additional revenue from some of the non-aviation related business,” he said. “The airport is not only a place where people arrive and come to board flights, it could also be a multifunctional center that has facilities like conference rooms or a shopping mall, but none of these things can be done until it is freed from the bondage of the government regulation.”
Considering the culture and customs of Taiwan, Chang suggests the nation follow the example set by Singapore’s Changi International Airport, where the government retains a certain percentage of shares in a privatized airport company.
Chang said that the airport company needs a transitional period of three to five years for it to get on track. During this time, the ministry can help by transferring civil servants who work at the airport to other government agencies if they do not wish to stay, he said. Meanwhile, the airport should start recruiting qualified individuals on the basis of individual work contracts, he said.
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