The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday vowed to speed up the construction projects at Taichung International Airport in light of significant growth of air passengers in central Taiwan.
Taichung airport handled 1.71 million passengers last year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level by 20 percent, CAA Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inaugural flights of Starlux Airlines’ Taichung-Tokyo route today and Taichung-Kumamoto tomorrow.
The airport’s summer schedule would be filled with 146 flights per week, compared with 111 before the pandemic, she said.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
The agency is planning improvements to the airport’s terminal and airside facilities, she said, adding that funding would continue to be allocated to support the airport’s development.
“Taichung airport serves as the international gateway for central Taiwan. In addition to Taiwanese international flight carriers, foreign airlines operate one-third of flights departing from here,” Ho said. “The terminal currently can handle 3.69 million passengers, and future investments would improve its facilities, providing airlines with better operational space and infrastructure.”
Separately, members of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee inspected the outbound immigration process at Kaohsiung International Airport.
The Kaohsiung Branch of the Aviation Police Bureau said a fourth security checkpoint would be added in June, which would increase passenger screening capacity significantly once the first phase of the new terminal is completed.
The international terminal at Kaohsiung International Airport opened in 1997, with a design capacity of 6.09 million passengers per year, Aviation Police Bureau Kaohsiung Branch Chief Tien Wei-ren (田偉仁) said.
With travel rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger volume reached 5.74 million last year, reaching 94 percent of its design capacity and approaching saturation, he said.
The third-floor check-in area of the international terminal has four island counters with 88 check-in desks and 16 self-service check-in kiosks, Tien said.
Peak usage occurs between 5am and 7am, with outbound passengers reaching nearly 1,400 per hour, and another peak occurs between 2pm and 4pm, he said.
On non-consecutive holidays, daily outbound passenger numbers already exceed 9,000, he said.
Congestion was mainly caused by the overlap of queues outside the restricted area and at check-in counters within the limited terminal space, he said.
The aviation police plans to introduce measures to optimize security-check procedures, including enhancing interagency coordination, adding a fourth lane in the security area, adjusting group check-in counters, opening check-in counters earlier, deploying additional security personnel and installing automated e-Gate kiosks to speed up passport and security checks, Tien said.
The measures should reduce security waiting and screening times during peak periods to 24 minutes from 35 minutes, easing passenger lines and crowding, he said.
The first phase of the new terminal is scheduled for completion in 2032, Tien said, adding that the facility would greatly expand terminal space and increase screening and document-verification capacity.
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