The Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday that it completed the installation of a new surveillance system last year in the nation’s largest airport, employing several state-of-the-art facilities used by the US military.
The airport began to step up its efforts to enhance airport security following an incident in 2011, when a woman intruded onto the airport’s restricted area by climbing over the perimeter wall that encircles the airport.
After entering the airport’s restricted zone, the woman drove onto the taxiway a ladder truck used by ground crew and eventually succeeded in boarding a China Airlines plane.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
Several managers received demerits or warnings over the incident, including former TIAC president Samuel Lin (林鵬良).
The airport company’s director of operational safety Chen Chi-chia (陳志嘉) said the west side of the airport by the Pusin River (埔心溪) is now equipped with the same radar system that is used by the US military.
“The wall near the river is often damaged by typhoons, so the radar system is mainly used to protect the west side,” Chen said.
The airport company also purchased two thermographic cameras and installed them on the southern and northern boarding corridors, allowing the company to capture the images of objects 3km away.
Thermographic cameras will help identify an object once it appears in the radar system, Chen said.
“We need to make sure if the object is a stray animal or a person, because this will determine whether we should contact the Aviation Police Bureau or elevate the security level at the airport,” he said, adding that both the radar system and thermographic cameras had assisted the US military in desert-based combat operations.
According to the TIAC, the new radar system would enable it to target and track up to 350 objects at a time, unhindered by topography and weather.
The airport company said that it plans to install the intrusion detection system and surveillance cameras along 20km of the airport’s perimeter walls.
Aside from the installation of these new facilities, the airport company says it has also replaced old surveillance cameras and integrated different operating systems. It would also start building the second perimeter walls around the airport, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
The entire project is expected to cost about NT$200 million (US$6.54 million), the TIAC said.
In other news, the Airports Council International (ACI) has chosen Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to be in this year’s Airport Service Roll of Excellence, according to the TIAC.
The airport company said it is scheduled to be recognized for such a honor at the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly in Seoul on May 26.
Aside from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, those listed in the roll of excellence include Cairo International Airport in Egypt, Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, Keflavik International Airport in Iceland and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.
In order to be qualified for the roll of excellence, an airport has to reach the top five in its region or in terms of airport passenger volume in the council’s evaluations of airport services for five years consecutively.
Prior to its achievement this year, the nation’s largest airport was ranked No. 3 in terms of services last year among airports that have annual passenger volumes of between 25 million and 40 million.
Twenty-one airports around the world have been recognized in the roll of excellence since the ACI created the annual awards in 2011. They included Incheon International Airport in South Korea, Changi International Airport in Singapore, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport in China, as well as Zurich Airport in Switzerland.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS