The Ministry of Transportation and Communications recently rejected a proposal from Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) to raise the airport service fee on the grounds that the timing of the measure was inappropriate.
International flight passengers departing from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are charged a NT$300 (US$10) fee when purchasing a ticket.
However, the fee has not been adjusted for more than 20 years.
Since TIAC’s establishment in November 2010, it has renovated several of the airport’s runways, as well as two terminals. It has also made plans to build an additional two terminals — Terminal Three and one specifically for low-cost carriers — as well as a third runway.
Despite the construction projects, the ministry rejected TIAC’s proposal because it thought that raising the service fee at a time when the nation is suffering an economic downturn is inappropriate.
Regulations see that about 40 percent of the airport service fee revenue goes to TIAC, while the remaining 60 percent goes to the Tourism Bureau.
The passenger volume of the nation’s largest international airport reached 24 million last year.
As the service fee only applies to departures, the company estimated that revenue from the service charge was about NT$3.6 billion last year, from which only about NT$1.4 billion would go to TIAC.
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