Kaohsiung International Airport’s new international terminal is scheduled to be completed by 2040, which would expand its service capacity from 10 million to 16.5 million passengers per year.
Civil Aviation Administration Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) said 26 airlines operate flights from Kaohsiung to 35 destinations worldwide.
There are 415 weekly flights on the summer flight schedule, up from 368 before the COVID-19 pandemic, Ho said.
Photo courtesy of the Civil Aeronautics Administration
The number of weekly flights to Japan and South Korea has reached 200, she added.
The average load factor of international flights in Kaohsiung has topped 82 percent, up from 78 percent last year, Ho said.
The airport was accessed by 5.74 million international passengers last year and that number could exceed 7 million this year, she said, adding that it had already reached 3.68 million last month.
It can accommodate 10 million people per year, which is expected to rise to 16.5 million once the new terminal begins operations, Ho said.
“The Kaohsiung International Airport is an important gateway in southern Taiwan. We will continue to expand the flight work by encouraging more carriers to launch more international flights in Kaohsiung,” she said.
The airport’s curfew hours would remain from 12pm to 6:30am, Ho said.
The construction of the new terminal has two stages.
The first stage involves building a new multistory parking garage at the airport’s east side, moving Taxiway A north, building the east side of the new terminal and Concourse C, and revamping the existing parking lot and connecting it to the Kaohsiung MRT Line.
The parking garage is expected to be operational by July next year.
Domestic and international flights still operate at separate terminals at the first stage.
For the second stage, the new terminal’s west side would be built, while the current international terminal would be torn down, and international flight services would be offered from the new terminal’s east side instead.
Domestic flights would still depart from the domestic terminal.
Concourses A and B would also be revamped during the second stage.
When the new terminal is completed, it would accommodate domestic and international flights, with domestic flights departing from the east side of the terminal.
The entire project is estimated to cost about NT$88 billion (US$2.77 billion).
Regarding questions about building an airport that operates around the clock, Ho said there is limited space available on land for such a facility.
While there is discussion over building a 24-hour airport on the coast, there remain many technical issues, she said.
“According to International Civil Aviation Organization regulations, a runway can only be built after having collected wind speed and direction data for more than 10 years. Geological data are also needed if reclaiming land from the sea is necessary,” Ho said. “We will continue to identify and assess all possible issues, and take into account issues of sustainability and resilience.”
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