About 22 percent of Southeast Asian air travelers transited through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before heading to destinations in North America in 2024, surpassing those transiting via Tokyo and Hong Kong, a study released yesterday by the Institute of Transportation showed.
Taoyuan airport also exceeded Tokyo and Hong Kong in the number of transit passengers to San Francisco, with about 760,000 headed to the northern California city in 2024.
The think tank, under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, analyzed available data for 2024 from the International Air Transport Association, a non-governmental airline trade association based in Montreal.
Photo courtesy of Taoyuan International Airport Corp
The institute has yet to release data for last year.
The study focused on how Southeast Asians traveling to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Ontario, California; Seattle, Chicago, Houston, New York, Vancouver and Toronto via Taoyuan, Incheon International Airport in South Korea, Tokyo Narita Airport, Japan’s Haneda Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
Of the 9.82 million Southeast Asians passengers traveling to the nine North American cities via the five Asia-Pacific hubs, 22.1 percent transited through Taoyuan, lower than Incheon (23.6 percent), but higher than Haneda (21.6 percent), Narita (12.6 percent), Hong Kong (17.1 percent) and Shanghai (3 percent), the study found.
Meanwhile, the number of travelers transiting through Taoyuan to San Francisco reached 759,927 in 2024, surpassing those flying through other Asia-Pacific hubs.
Passengers to Los Angeles transiting through Taoyuan also reached 491,339, exceeded only by Narita and about the same as Incheon.
The study also found that 74.7 percent of passengers on Taoyuan-San Francisco flights were transit passengers.
“Compared with other major Asia-Pacific hubs, we found that Taoyuan has a particularly strong competitive edge in the transit services to San Francisco. It is also relatively competitive in transit services to Los Angeles and Seattle,” institute secretary-general Yeh Tsu-hung (葉祖宏) told a news conference in Taipei.
“However, Taoyuan still lagged behind other competitors in terms of transit passengers to New York,” Yeh said, adding that Taiwan has room to improve in terms of transit passengers to the US east coast.
Aside from launching new direct flights, Taoyuan can increase its transit passengers to airports in the US and Canada by increasing regional flights with high demand to shorten transit times and form strategic alliances with other airlines, the institute said.
The institute has suggested in previous studies that Taiwanese international flight carriers consider launching direct flights to Washington or Boston.
EVA Airways earlier this year announced that it is scheduled to launch direct flights to the US capital in June.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS