Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) yesterday confirmed that it has suspended the construction of Terminal Four at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, saying it feared that concurrent ongoing construction projects could lead to a deterioration in service quality.
The company has already begun construction of Terminal Three, which is scheduled to be completed by 2020. The company had also planned to build the smaller Terminal Four, to cope with increasing passenger volume, in an area occupied by Terminal One’s parking lot. It was intended to service 5 million travelers per year and simultaneously accommodate four narrow-body aircraft and one wide-body airplane.
Terminal Four was to be a smart terminal, with an automated system able to adjust lighting and air-conditioning systems based on the number of passengers inside the building.
The company had said it urgently needed a smaller terminal built prior to the launch of Terminal Three, as the number of passengers serviced by the airport each year has already exceeded the combined capacity of terminals One and Two.
However, a report published in the Chinese-language China Times said the TIAC had suspended construction of Terminal Four as the nation would soon face a decline in Chinese tourists when cross-strait policy is altered by the Democratic Progressive Party administration following the May 20 handover.
The company denied its decision to suspend the building of Terminal Four had anything to do with a potential decrease in Chinese tourists.
“The airport has multiple ongoing construction projects, including the Terminal Two expansion project that is to be completed in 2018 and the Terminal Three project. We do not want to compromise the quality of the airport’s service by pushing through so many projects all at once,” the company said.
“The Terminal Four project can only be restarted after other projects progress and aviation safety issues are taken into account. It should be carried out at the best time and cause minimal disturbance to the airport’s operations,” it said.
Meanwhile, more smart facilities are to be installed in terminals One and Two to ease overcrowding, the company said, including self check-in terminals, automatic baggage checking facilities and an “E-Gate” passport control system.
Statistics from the airport company showed that terminals One and Two have a combined capacity of 32 million passengers per year.
However, the airport saw the number of passengers last year top 38.47 million and the figure is estimated to exceed 40 million this year.
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