The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said it has proposed raising aircraft landing charges for international flights at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) by about 30 percent, adding that it would simultaneously lower the landing charges for airports in Hualien, Taitung and elsewhere.
CAA Director-General Jean Shen (沈啟) said Songshan airport was operating at almost full capacity. Raising the airport landing charge would divert flights to other, less-used airports in the nation, she said.
Currently, the CAA regulates the aircraft landing charges for Songshan and other domestic airports. The charge at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is determined by the Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC), which was established in 2010. The revenue collected from aircraft landing charges at airports under the CAA is between NT$460 million (US$15.53 million) and NT$470 million per year.
The proposed landing charge increase has been submitted to Ministry of Transportation and Communications for final approval. The launch of cross-strait flights, as well as flights to Tokyo and Seoul, has vastly increased passenger traffice at Songshan airport.
According to the CAA’s proposal, the landing charge at Songshan airport will differ according to aircraft model. The landing charge for an Airbus 330, for example, would be raised from NT$41,300 per aircraft to NT$53,000 under the proposed rate scheme.
If the increase of the aircraft landing charge was to be shared among passengers at Songshan airport, the CAA estimated that each would on average pay NT$179, up from NT$138.
In response, airlines at the airport said that a rise in the aircraft landing charge would not raise prices for flights.
Aircraft landing charges for international flights at Taichung and Kaohsiung airports would be reduced by between 8 and 10 percent, the CAA said.
If the carriers manage to increase the number of flight services at any of these two airports, they would see the landing charge drop by 50 percent per aircraft.
If they are able to raise the number by between 30 and 70 new flights per year, they would get a 70 percent discount on the landing charge per aircraft.
They will not need to pay any landing charge at all if they increase flights by more than 70 a year.
International flight landing charges at Hualien, Taitung, Magong, Kinmen and Chiayi airports would drop by 50 percent. The CAA would waive the landing charge for any newly added flight from any of these airports.
It said the new landing charge scheme would increase landing charge revenue by about NT$30 million a year.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS