Borough wardens in the vicinity of Kaohsiung International Airport earlier this week expressed opposition to the city government’s planned lifting of the midnight ban on planes landing at the airport, despite appeals by the Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents.
The ban has been in place since the airport commenced operations in 1965, prohibiting any flights from landing at the airport between midnight and 6am.
The city government had proposed moving the ban to between 2am and 5am, with only landings allowed, but the move was strongly resisted by residents of Shandong Borough (山東), Cingdao Borough (青島), Jinan Borough (濟南) and Taishan Borough (泰山).
The borough wardens said they understood that the travel agencies were concerned about their profits, but called upon the agencies to have more empathy for residents, who have to put up with the constant noise pollution generated by the airport.
Taishan Borough Warden Kuo Chih-heng (郭致恆) said takeoffs and landings make so much noise that even using the telephone was impossible, adding that most of the residents around the airport were blue-collar workers.
Most of them work rotational shifts and are already affected by the current schedule, Kuo said, adding that if the airport extended the landing times to 2am, it would greatly affect local residents.
Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents vice president Hsu Chih-ling (徐志鈴) said more flights landing at the airport means that more airlines are trying to book landing spots before the ban goes into effect each day, or else the flights have to be rerouted to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Military exercises conducted by China’s air force also lead to the frequent grounding of planes for one to two hours, leading to delays, Hsu said.
The airlines who have to reroute flights to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are then forced to hire buses to transport passengers back to Kaohsiung, Hsu said, adding that there is significant safety risk as bus drivers are often asleep when they receive a call from the airline.
Hsu questioned who would take responsibility in the event of an accident caused by a tired driver.
Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Hsu Chuang-sheng (許傳盛) acknowledged that there is a tight schedule at the airport, adding that not only does the airport handle cross-strait flights, it also handles flights to Japan and South Korea.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said further negotiations with residents would be required before a decision could be made.
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