International visitors transiting in Taiwan are to pay a NT$500 (US$16.33) airport service fee under a new policy to be implemented on March 31, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
It would be the first time the government has levied airport service fees on transit passengers since Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport began operations in 1979.
Department of Navigation and Aviation Deputy Director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) told a news conference that the fee should be included in fares when people book flights.
Photo: CNA
If the fee is not included in fares, passengers can pay it at airport check-in counters, Han said, adding that it would be refunded if they do not transit in Taiwan.
Currently, only outbound travelers are charged NT$500 per person for using services and facilities at the airport.
The average transit layover at Taoyuan airport is about five hours, ministry data showed.
The user-pays principle should apply to transit passengers, as they access airport services just as outbound passengers do, Han said.
“Airports near Taiwan have already begun charging transit passengers for using airport service facilities, including Narita International Airport in Japan, Incheon International Airport in South Korea and Changi International Airport in Singapore,” he said.
Taoyuan “airport has adopted disease prevention measures to comply with the government’s policy to contain COVID-19 and during the pandemic it upgraded facilities to elevate service quality,” he said.
Of the 48.68 million people who accessed Taoyuan airport in 2019, 24.18 million were outbound travelers and 2.96 million were transit passengers, Han said.
About 80 percent of the transit passengers were people traveling from North America to Southeast Asia via Taiwan, he said.
Before the pandemic, the airport collected about NT$10.6 billion in airport service fee revenue per year, he said.
Based on the number of transit passengers in 2019, the new policy could add NT$1.5 billion to revenue per year, he added.
Taoyuan airport has flights to 63 destinations around the world, Han said.
About 1,400 flights depart from the airport per week, which is about 60 percent of the weekly flights in 2019, he said.
About 4.09 million passengers accessed the airport in the first two months of this year, about 52 percent of the number in the same period in 2019, he said.
“As there has been a significant rebound in air travel, the number of people accessing Taoyuan airport could exceed 20 million this year,” he said. “The number of transit passengers could reach 1.2 million this year, which could bring in additional revenue of about NT$550 million.”
The additional revenue would help pay for the construction of the airport’s third terminal and third runway, as well as a new terminal at Kaohsiung International Airport, he said.
The airport service fee for transit passengers is about NT$360 at Narita, NT$250 at Incheon, NT$925 at Hong Kong and NT$200 at Changi International, he added.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better