The number of passengers passing through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this year could exceed that of 2019 amid a strong recovery in air travel and the number of long weekends during the second half of this year, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday.
As of May 31, 19.57 million passengers had passed through the nation’s largest international airport, which was 96.5 percent of 2019’s figure, TIAC vice president Lee Chun-te (李俊德) told a news conference in Taipei.
The number exceeded 20 million on June 4, he added.
Photo: CNA
The airport operator estimated that the number of travelers next month and in August would rise 9.5 percent to reach 8.53 million people, which would exceed the 8.52 million recorded in the same period in 2019, Lee said.
“International arrivals and departures at the airport could approach or even surpass 2019 levels. Factors such as changes in global economy, the travel habits of domestic passengers, international politics and the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar against other currencies might influence overall air passenger volume,” he said.
More Taiwanese might be motivated to travel abroad with more long weekends available in the next six months, he said.
The conflict between Israel and Iran has caused many airlines to bypass airspace in the region, Lee said, adding that it would inform travelers of any flight changes.
Some Asian countries have reported a decline in sales of flights to Japan due to a prediction in the 1999 manga The Future I Saw by Ryo Tatsuki. The original version claimed a great disaster would occur in 2011, which some people believe accurately predicted the March 11, 2011, Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. An updated version of the manga published in 2021 said that “the real catastrophe” would come in July 2025.
In the past few weeks social media posts warning of the manga’s prediction have surged in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, the Washington Post reported on Thursday last week.
Although fears over the manga could affect flight ticket prices, the airport had yet to detect a significant change in the number of Taiwanese tourists to Japan, Lee said.
The airport has also not seen a steady rise of Taiwanese returning to Taiwan for recall elections set for July 26, he added.
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