Taoyuan airport expanding fast to meet demand

2014-09-22

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is expanding rapidly to keep pace with demand as it cements its position as one of the fastest growing airline hubs worldwide, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih said Sept. 18 in Taipei City.

"The airport is expected to see 34 million travelers this year, with capacity set to grow by a further 5 million under the current expansion project," Yeh said. “As renovation of Terminal Two is finished at the end of 2015, TTIA will offer additional passenger-friendly services to global travelers.”

According to Yeh, the airport’s international passenger traffic growth is up from 9.6 percent in 2013 to 11 percent in the first eight months this year. This trend is expected to continue with the construction of Terminal Three. "Once the new terminal is inaugurated in 2020, TTIA will be able to service 47 million people per year,” he said.

Yeh made the remarks at the Trinity Forum, an annual global airport commercial revenues conference hosted jointly by Airports Council International, ACI Asia-Pacific and U.K.-based travel retail media The Moodie Report. The forum attracted over 270 global airport representatives and retail service providers.

The recent expansion of the airport’s nonaeronautical revenue is further proof of its growing clout as a top-flight international hub, according to Taoyuan International Airport Corp. President David Fei.

With fivefold expansion of commercial venues since 2005, TTIA’s nonaeronautical streams now account for about 55 percent of overall revenues, well above the global criterion for measuring an airport’s operating success, he added.

The achievement is reflected in the airport's international honors in recent years, Fei said. In June, TTIA was rated the world’s 10th best facility for long layovers by U.S.-based travel website Matador Network. U.K.-based Skytrax, one of world’s leading front-end aviation review firms, also listed TTIA at 18th in its 2014 global airport rankings, up six places from the year before.

With a slew of upgrades and additional facilities due to be launched in the coming years, Fei said his company aims to advance services across all sectors.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=221903&ctNode=445)