Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) yesterday said that Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport had greatly improved in efficiency since it became a state-run company last year, adding that it was unfair to describe the airport as an “international joke.”
“The airport does have room for improvement and we have not done enough,” Yeh said. “However, if the airport got a score of 50 out of 100 before it became a company, I would say that the score has now improved to 70.”
Yeh made the comment at the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which was reviewing the budget plan for Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) for the next fiscal year.
Photo: CNA
Yeh is currently the chairman of TIAC.
Lawmakers serving on the committee pointed out a series of problems reported at the nation’s largest airport.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Luo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said the purpose of establishing the company was to ensure that the airport was professionally managed like a private firm.
However, 14 separate incidents had occurred at the airport in the year since the company was established, she said.
“International passengers now know what a lousy airport we have,” Luo said. “It has become a joke. When will we hear the end of it?”
Yeh disagreed with Luo’s characterization of the nation’s main gateway as “a joke.”
“People think that Hong Kong International Airport is one of the best airports in the world, but if it also had dozens of journalists who reported on everything that happened there as we do, I am sure they would discover lots of problems as well,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said she did not know how the company had the nerve to talk of making the airport the hub of the Asia-Pacific region.
She asked that TIAC continue to present regular reports on work at the airport.
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