An international flight data service provider rated Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport No. 170 among 188 airports worldwide in terms of on-time departure performance last year, despite billions of dollars spent by the government to spruce up the nation’s main international gateway.
According to Flightstats, a Portland, Oregon-based flight data service provider, the airport’s average on-time flight departure rate was 59.53 percent last year, significantly lower than the global average of 75.56 percent. Among 63 large or mid-size airports in the Asia-Pacific region, Taoyuan was ranked No. 48.
Taoyuan airport’s on-time performance ranking last year fell from its position in 2014, when it was ranked No. 160 worldwide, with an on-time flight departure rate of 61.87 percent, and No. 38 among large or mid-size airports in the Asia-Pacific region.
Commenting on the lackluster performance, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said its average on-time flight departure rate was 87 percent last year, based on calculations by the Civil Aeronautics Administration to calculate the on-time passenger flight departure rate at civilian airports.
The airport company said the on-time flight departure rate surpassed 90 percent after use of the northern runway resumed at the end of last year.
The north runway was closed for major renovations last year and was not reopened until Christmas Eve.
The airport company also said that Flightstats considers a flight delayed if it departs its gate 15 minutes or more after its scheduled departure time.
In contrast, the administration considers a flight delayed if it fails to depart within 30 minutes of the cabin crew closing the aircraft’s cabin door, the company said.
The airport company also said that flights at the airport could only use the south runway last year, but it did not limit the number of aircraft operating from the facility, which grew from 208,874 in 2014 to 221,191 last year.
The on-time flight departure rate is expected to greatly improve this year, as both the north and south runways are now in use, the airport company said.
However, the airport company had announced that it is scheduled to close the southern runway again for maintenance work tomorrow, and that the airport would operate only one runway for about one week.
Flightstats’ data showed that Japan’s Osaka International Airport was ranked No. 1 in on-time departures, followed by Tocumen International Airport in Panama City and Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
Flightstats’ statistics showed that many major airports in the Asia-Pacific region fell on the lower end of the on-time rate spectrum.
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