The air traffic congestion at the nation’s largest international airport could be greatly eased by the end of this year, as the airport’s north runway might be reopened earlier than scheduled, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said.
The airport company had earlier this year closed the north runway for renovations, soon after it reopened the renovated south runway. The north runway was originally scheduled to be reopened on Jan. 8.
However, as renovation work on the runway proceeded smoothly, the company said that it now aims to reopen the runway by the end of this year.
As the renovated north runway is to be equipped with advanced navigation assistance systems, the company said it needs to conduct tests before reopening it.
The company said that the tests would be carried out by the Civil Aeronautics Administration in two phases, with the first phase lasting from yesterday until Friday.
The second phase of testing is to be executed from Monday next week to Dec. 18, it added.
The tests are to be conducted daily from 6am to 9am and from 2pm to 4pm.
To ensure that the tests do not disrupt international flights, the airport is to be closed to flights between 6:30am and 7:30am during the test period, the company said, adding that the administration can continue testing other items when flights at the airport operate as planned.
Flights that are scheduled to take off before 7am are to depart earlier because of the tests, the company said, adding that flights that are scheduled to depart after 7am are to be delayed.
The first day of testing went smoothly, with the airport resuming operations at 7:30am, the airport company said.
By 10am, all flights at the airport began to operate based on the timetable, it added.
The airport, whose passenger volume exceeded 35 million last year, started renovating the two runways in 2013.
It has managed to continue operations with only one runway over the past two years.
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