http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../16/2003532948
New airport food court to open in September
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Taiwanese master baker Wu Pao-chun, center, stands outside his bakery in Greater Kaohsiung on Friday last week at a book signing event for his latest publication.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei TimesA new food court at Terminal 1 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport will open on Sept. 30, the state-run Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday.
Renovations at Terminal 1, which began in 2009, are scheduled to be completed this year. The new food court is located at the terminal’s level-one basement (B1).
TIAC senior vice president Wen Yung-sung (溫永松) said the company had outsourced operations of the food court to Hsin Tung Yang Corp, which won the contract earlier this month.
Wen said the contractor planned to attract investment from international food chains, as well as Taiwanese restaurants.
Aside from McDonald’s and Tokyo Prince Ramen, Hairei Meatball of Hsinchu City and Jimmy’s Kitchen in Taipei will also have a presence at the terminal’s food court.
Wen said Taiwanese baker Wu Pao-chun (吳寶春), who won the Bakery Master title at the 2010 Bakery World Cup in Paris, would also have an outlet at the airport.
The quality of food at the nation’s main airport came under scrutiny following a complaint by Taiwanese gourmet Han Liang-lu (韓良露), who said that the food at the airport was expensive and tasted awful.
Wen said the company hoped the food quality at the airport could soon match that at Hong Kong International Airport.
According to TIAC, the renovation project has expanded the area of Terminal 1 by approximately 13,000m2.
Starting on Sunday, the company will gradually open different areas to the public.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../22/2003533445
Passengers pleased with new facilities in Taoyuan Airport
Staff writer, with CNA
Passengers arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 1 yesterday walked into a newly renovated arrivals hall with sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling.
The new facilities include the north wing of the arrivals hall, a tourism information counter and a glass elevator that takes passengers to a bus terminal.
The terminal also boasts newly installed counters for the Tourism Bureau, the Council of Labor Affairs, telecommunications companies, car rental services and hotel reservations.
Gone are the somber temporary lighting and the panels separating the areas under construction from airport users.
The new facilities are part of a refurbishment and expansion project scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
However, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported that some signs in the arrivals hall were not clear enough and that a wall separating a construction area reduces the space available for public use.
One Taiwanese traveler, surnamed Cheng (鄭), said the new terminal felt spacious, unlike the cramped old one.