Taoyuan airport sets NT$227m upgrade
FLY FACILITY:The airport’s operator said the renovation is meant to help it service 5 million more passengers per year, predicting traffic of 40 million people by 2016
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) yesterday said it has budgeted about NT$227 million (US$7.38 million) to renovate the arrival hall at the airport’s Terminal Two, adding that construction is to be completed by June next year.
TIAC senior vice president Wen Yung-sung (溫永松) said the company wants to decorate the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport arrival hall with images of Taiwan to make visitors from overseas feel at home.
According to Wen, the project will replace the Tourism Bureau’s Visitor Center and other service facilities with a ring-shaped structure incorporating the service counters for the bureau, as well as car rental and other services.
The service area was originally designed to accommodate 17 million passengers a year, but after the renovation work is completed, it is to be capable of serving 22 million, Wen said.
In addition, the hall’s flight information board will be turned into a multimedia presentation platform displaying various kinds of information to passengers.
The renovation is one of multiple projects being undertaken by the company to meet the rapid increase in passengers using the international airport.
Company statistics showed that 28.38 million people passed through the airport between January and October, an increase of 11.37 percent compared with the same period last year. It estimates that total passenger volume for this year could top 34.20 million and that by 2016, that figure could be 40 million a year.
Given this trajectory, the company is seeking to increase the service capacity of the airport’s two terminals and has already renovated Terminal One, Wen said.
“When Terminal One was launched in 1979, it was designed to serve only 5 million passengers a year. The renovation helped enlarge its capacity to 15 million passengers per year,” he added.
Wen said the airport has also established a maintenance team to respond quickly to any problem generated by some of the older facilities in Terminal One.
“The terminal has been in use for 35 years, so many of pipelines have aged,” Wen said, adding that the maintenance team would be expanded to 30 to 40 people who are to provide a 24-hour maintenance service for both terminals.
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