The tragic crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 on Feb. 4, which left 43 people dead and 17 injured, has reignited the decades-old debate on whether Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) should be relocated or shut down. However, transportation experts argue that the accident should not be the sole reason for relocating or shutting down the airport, adding that either scenario is not likely to happen in the near future.
Tamkang University Department of Transportation Management associate professor Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) was in charge of the Taipei City Government’s Department of Transportation between 2007 and 2010. He said the city considered several locations should the airport need to be relocated, including the Tamsui (淡水), Guandu (關渡) and Sanji (三芝) districts in New Taipei City. None of these locations turned out to be viable, he said.
“We considered what role Songshan airport plays in the national transport system and the developments in the area surrounding the airport,” Luo said. “Apart from being the domestic airport, Songshan is now part of the ‘Northeast Asian Golden Aviation Circle,’ connecting with Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul. We wanted the airport and residents living around the airport to coexist in harmony, and not constantly trouble the residents with noise generated by flights.”
Luo said it was ridiculous that some people used the plane crash as the justification to suggest that the airport be relocated.
“In the past, several plane crashes occurred at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which is also surrounded by densely-populated areas. Should we close the airport because of these accidents?” Luo said. “It’s like saying that we should not be driving, because so many people get killed in traffic accidents every year.”
He said that 80 percent of the people serviced by the airport are residents of Taipei or New Taipei City, and it only takes them about an hour to travel to the nation’s outlying islands. The geographical advantage would be lost if airplanes had to take off from Taoyuan airport instead, he said.
Some people propose shutting down Songshan airport, as the nation already has Taoyuan airport as its main gateway, which is only about 40 minutes away from the city. However, Luo said it was simply impossible for Taoyuan airport to handle all the additional passengers and flights from Songshan. He added that moving Songshan airport anytime soon would be unlikely, because it would take at least 15 years to finish construction of Terminal Three and the third runway at Taoyuan airport.
Although some politicians have said Songshan airport should be demolished and turned into a large park, Luo said the proposal would only benefit real-estate developers eyeing huge profits from building luxurious apartments in the area.
“Except for the park, we have yet to see anything substantial from the proposal, especially in relation to overall planning of the city’s development,” he said.
Luo also disagreed with the argument that the government intends to keep the airport to meet the needs of the wealthy. He said Taipei’s Nangang (南港) and Neihu (內湖) districts are known as the nation’s “technology corridor,” as many corporations have set up headquarters there.
“If we want to make sure that these corporations stay in Taiwan and do not move jobs overseas, we had better consider the infrastructure that is available to them. These matters should not be discussed in the rhetoric of a populist or with a deep resentment toward the rich,” he said.
National Taiwan Normal University dean of College Management Chen Dun-ji (陳敦基) said the aviation safety issues should always be addressed, regardless of the location of the airport.
“We don’t stop eating because there is a chance for food to get stuck in our throats,” he said, citing an old Chinese saying.
Chen added that the nation has seen a dramatic increase in international visitors. The number of inbound passengers would only continue to rise, and it would be inappropriate to shut down any airport rashly, he said.
Currently, the airport offers domestic and cross-strait flights, as well as flights to Japan and South Korea. Songshan airport statistics show that approximately 6.1 million passengers visited the airport last year, with about 45 percent of them arriving on domestic flights.
Taoyuan airport’s passenger volume topped 35 million last year, a figure which already exceeds the combined planned capacity for Terminal One and Terminal Two.
However, former Council of Economic Planning deputy minister Chang Ching-sen (張景森) said that Songshan airport should be relocated as soon as possible, because it is essentially an unsafe airport.
“If the airport continues to exist, an airplane could crash anywhere north of Zhongxiao E Road. Any plane crash would inflict severe casualties, making its current location unsafe,” Chang said on Facebook.
He said the former Democratic Progressive Party administration allocated capacity in Taoyuan airport’s Terminal Three and third runway for flights it would absorb if Songshan airport was shut down, adding that the government is trying to speed up construction of the Airport Rail line as well.
“I felt that Songshan should have been shut down after the high-speed rail became operational. However, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration opposed the relocation and allowed the airport to begin offering cross-strait direct flight service,” he said.
Chang added that Songshan airport is surrounded by the mountains of the Taipei basin, so it has limited airspace and numerous potential flight safety risks. The airport occupies only 213 hectares, leaving no space to expand facilities, he said, adding that airlines offering flights from Songshan can only perform aircraft maintenance at other airports, because of Songshan’s inadequate maintenance facility, increasing their operational costs.
As the noise generated by flights at the airport is disruptive to the lives of nearby residents, the airport cannot operate 24 hours per day, which subsequently limits the number of flights it can offer.
Some have also said that the existence of Songshan airport has limited land development in the surrounding area, as the government has restricted the height of buildings near the airport for flight safety reasons.
In related news, Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮), a land economics professor at National Chengchi University who has actively participated in protests against the land development cases in Miaoli County’s Dapu Village (大埔) and the Taoyuan aerotropolis project, recently said on Facebook that the construction of the third runway at Taoyuan airport and the Taoyuan aerotropolis project would demolish at least 15,000 houses and force 46,000 people to move, which he said was a major disaster.
“We cannot accept the casualties caused by the plane crash, but we tolerate the harm done by the Taoyuan aerotropolis project. Is that how we set the standards for human rights? Can we treat people differently?” he asked.
A Daan District (大安) resident surnamed Chang (張) moved to Taipei from Penghu a few years ago after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and required extended treatment at a hospital in the city. Chang said it takes almost three hours to travel from his house in Penghu to the hospital in Taipei. It would take at least four hours if domestic flights landed in Taoyuan, he said.
“I can understand why people want to move Songshan airport. Personally, I would not mind if domestic flights had to land in Taoyuan, so long as there is a door open for me to enter the capital,” Chang said.
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