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.
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
HASTY PLAN: Instructors must teach in a language they are not fluent in, while students are forced to learn new subjects in a tongue they do not know, teachers said The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) yesterday urged the government to thoroughly review its Bilingual 2030 policy, saying it has caused problems in elementary and high schools, and might affect the quality of education in other subjects. The government on March 28 changed its original “Bilingual Nation 2030” plan to the “Bilingual 2030” plan, no longer aiming to turn Taiwan into a Mandarin-English bilingual nation by 2030, NFTU president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) told a news conference in Taipei. Despite the change, the policy’s budget, resources and most of its content remain the same, causing unusual scenes on campuses, he said. Cheng Chi-yi
‘STILL RISKY’: The quarantine requirement for arrivals cannot be lifted, as COVID-19 cases have been rising in Europe and the US, the minister of health and welfare said The government might consider dropping a negative COVID-19 test result requirement for travelers from low-risk countries, but lifting the quarantine requirement for inbound travelers is still risky, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The CECC on Monday said it does not plan to further loosen border controls soon. National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital superintendent Huang Li-min (黃立民) said the “3+4” quarantine policy separates inbound travelers from family members for only three days, which is not enough to block the spread of the virus, so the government might consider changing it to a “0+7” policy. He also said that it might
Taiwanese singer Miu Chu (朱俐靜) passed away over the weekend after a battle with breast cancer, her family announced yesterday. She was 40 years old. The family wrote on Chu’s Facebook fan page that she died peacefully. “Thank you all for your concern. Miu, who was always full of laughter and always brought people positive energy with her music, left us peacefully on July 3,” the family said. The family asked for privacy at this time and said that details of a memorial service would be announced later. Chu was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. She was an alumna of the TV reality show
RSS