“Special project” status should be obtained when a runway at an international airport has to be shut down for at least 12 hours for repairs, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
Annual runway repairs at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport early this month resulted in 14 percent of flights that operated while the work was under way being delayed for at least 30 minutes, 11 percent delayed by 30 minutes to one hour, 12 percent delayed by one to two hours and 10 percent delayed for more than two hours.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp had neglected to consider how the repairs would affect operations at the airport, Wang said.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
Annual repairs for the northern sections of the airport’s runways later this year would follow the new rules, he said.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp chairman Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said that the company has taken to heart the lessons learned from this month’s delays.
The company would step up measures to enhance airport operations, reinforce lateral communications and make information more transparent, Yang said.
Company president and chief executive officer Fan Hsiao-lun (范孝倫) said that the airport’s performance was lacking in technical and administrative aspects.
To prevent similar incidents, any project requiring runways to be shut down for 12 hours or more would stagger work periods, Fan said.
The company’s president would chair and direct such projects to facilitate interdepartmental communications, he said.
The company would assess how construction projects affect airport operations, including in the control tower.
Future projects that require runways to be closed would be announced three months in advance via press releases, Web site alerts, and direct communication with airline companies and travel agencies, he added.
Standard operational procedures would explicitly list all measures for shutting down runways for maintenance, he said.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp has met with representatives from airlines from four different nations and had asked them to observe the Regulations Governing the Mediation of Disputes Arising from the Transportation Between Civil Aviation Passengers and Aircraft Carriers (航空乘客與航空氣韻送人運送糾紛調處辦法) when handling customer complaints, Fan said.
As of Monday, the company and airlines had recorded 350 complaints as a result of the March 3 repairs.
The company has issued a demerit for Yang and Fan, while two deputy managers in charge of the repair project’s planning were given one and two demerits and eight department heads were handed one or two demerits for failing to process travelers’ need for information in a timely manner.
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