Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) launched, to much fanfare, direct flights between Songshan Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport on Monday. Previously, anyone flying between Taipei and Shanghai had to make a stopover in Hong Kong or Macau, which could take the better part of a day. Direct flights will only take 90 minutes. However, the Songshan-Hongqiao link was made without any negotiation and there are still a lot of unresolved issues.
Songshan was Taipei’s original gateway to the rest of the world, but when Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport opened, most international flights went through there instead. In February 1979, Songshan was opened to domestic carriers, and in its heyday, Songshan saw more than 100 domestic flights a day. After the construction of the Taiwan High Speed Rail, however, a fast, safe and less expensive alternative to flying was available. Flights to the west coast of Taiwan all but disappeared, and domestic carriers now mostly serve east coast destinations such as Hualien and Taitung, and the outlying islands. Suddenly, Songshan’s very survival became an issue in Taipei.
When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in government, the Cabinet rejected developing Songshan for cross-strait flights because of environmental and national security concerns. As part of their election campaigns for Taipei mayor, Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) pledged to relocate the airport outside the city, open an MRT link between it and Taoyuan Airport and transform the original site into a municipal park.
The government has chosen to rush through plans for direct flights from Songshan, forgoing public consultation and throwing away the chance to have a new park in the city. The result on the first day was chaos. With the rather modest facilities at Songshan, the press wondered whether they had landed instead in Sunan International Airport in North Korea. Songshan cannot compete with Hongqiao Airport, let alone Haneda in Japan.
At the moment, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications wants to classify Songshan as a commercial airport so that it can fast-track business travelers through the airport. But is serving a minority of corporate customers with private jets and a small number of commercial carriers really the best use of the site? What about the rest of the people in the city?
A few days ago, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) inspected the MRT Airport Line construction site, and said he wanted to reduce the commute from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei City to under 25 minutes. We now have two airports serving Taipei, both of which have limited capacity. Is Songshan really necessary when there is another airport 30 minutes away? One has to ask what sense this makes financially.
The debate over the use of the wetlands around Nangang’s (南港) 202 Munitions Works brought to light the severe shortage of green space in and around the city. Wouldn’t the public prefer the Songshan site to be transformed into a park? Let’s assume Songshan becomes commercially successful: Is the public prepared for the noise pollution and environmental damage this will lead to?
The way the government has handled the opening of direct flights demonstrates a total lack of transparency and a complete disregard for consultation. One suspects this is less about what the public wants, and more about Hau’s re-election bid in the November elections.
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