Taiwan is experiencing strong growth in its air transportation sector, with a 22.9 percent increase in passenger volume at Taoyuan International Airport between January and March compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said passenger volume at Taoyuan International Airport had been growing since August last year.
Between January and March this year passenger volume topped 5.55 million, not including passengers in transit, he added.
While Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport deals with far fewer passengers than international airports in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Bangkok and Tokyo, it outstripped them all in terms of growth in passenger volume.
The number of passengers arriving at Taoyuan Airport is expected to top 24 million this year, Mao said.
Mao said there was solid growth in air cargo volume. At 409,000 tonnes over the same period this amounted to growth of 71 percent, once again the highest in the region.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) announced that total passenger volume at Taiwan’s international airports topped 6.5 million people from January to March, a 22.61 percent increase on the same period last year.
A close look at the CAA’s statistics showed that passengers on cross-strait flights accounted for 10.9 percent of the growth, whereas those on other international flights contributed 11.62 percent.
Mao said these statistics emphasized the extent to which the launch of a cross-strait flight service had helped to reinforce Taiwan’s status as an important transport hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Free trade zones near the airport and seaports have transformed themselves into value-added service centers, where manufacturers can bring their parts to Taiwan, assemble them, repackage the product and export to other nations,” he said.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe