Travelers can look forward to fewer flight delays after Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s south runway resumes operations on Thursday, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said.
The airport has been plagued by flight delays since Feb. 19 last year when TIAC closed the south runway for renovations, leaving only the north runway open for flight landings and departures and triggering complaints from airline companies and passengers.
TIAC chairman Yin Chen-pong (尹承蓬) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei that renovations had been completed and the south runway’s length has been extended by 300m to 3,800m.
Since it has been upgraded to a Category II runway, Yin said the minimum visibility requirement could be lower than the one currently used.
Yin added that both the north and south runways would be open for operations during the Lunar New Year holiday this year.
However, renovations on the north runway are set to start in March, Yin said, adding that the runway is expected to resume operations before the Lunar New Year next year.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said that with the opening of the south runway, he expects smoother flight operations.
“Last year, we only had the north runway, which sometimes had to be closed for workers to repair potholes,” Yeh said.
“The airport will have only the south runway operating after the Lunar New Year holiday, but it will offer better services than the north runway,” he said.
Yeh also told legislators that the ministry is scheduled to meet with Greater Taoyuan Government officials on Jan. 21 to discuss details of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis plan.
“The plan includes the airport and development of the land near the airport,” he said, adding that plans to build a third runway will not be changed.
However, land development in the surrounding area is to be carried out by the Taoyuan government, which is still re-evaluting the plan.
Yeh said that passenger traffic at the airport is growing rapidly and the construction of Terminal Three will take another six years.
He added that the airport is trying to expand the annual capacity of Terminal Two by 5 million passengers, with construction set to be completed in about two years.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai