Four out of five applicants won contracts for the insurance counters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2, although the average bid price was 18 percent lower than the previous tender, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC, 桃園國際機場公司) senior vice president Hong Yu-fen (洪玉芬) told the Taipei Times yesterday at a celebration held by Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) at the terminal.
The bidding process was completed in September, and the new six-year contracts took effect this month.
The other winners were Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) and Chubb Corp Taiwan (美商安達產險台灣分公司).
Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽) lost out, Hong said.
The contracts drew strong interest, but the average bid price was NT$2.6 million (US$84,3175) per month, down 18 percent from NT$3.2 million reached six years ago when last tender was held, Hong said.
“It seems that the insurers were not willing to pay as high a price as before, as more consumers are buying insurance online rather than at an airport,” Hong said.
The price was still high, given that each insurer has 5 ping (16.5m2) of workspace at the terminal, meaning the rent is NT$520,000 per ping, TAIC said.
Cathay Life, although it would not say how much it bid, said that it sells an average of 300 policies per day, 25 percent of its total travel insurance sales.
The firm in 2000 installed a self-service kiosk at the terminal for the convenience of late-night passengers, Cathay Life senior vice president Terry Tseng (曾繁榮) said.
While younger travelers prefer to buy insurance online, a single trip at a time, families like to buy insurance at the airport to save time, Tseng added.
Chubb Corp Taiwan country president Edward Tseng (曾增成) said that this year was the first time his company had won a contract at Terminal 2, and that it hopes to reach more clients through its new sales site at the airport.
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