http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/arc...1/06/2003457758
MAXIMUM CAPACITY: With the company expected to raise passenger numbers, the transportation ministry is planning a third terminal at the airport in Taoyuan
By Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Nov 06, 2009, Page 4
The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday approved the budget for the International Airport Co, which is scheduled to be established before November next year.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the ministry was entrusting a consulting firm with drafting the master plan for the company, which it aims to complete by May.
“We hope that the airport company will help increase the number of passengers using the nation’s airports,” Mao said. “Currently, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has an average of 22 million passengers per year. We are laying out three potential levels for the airport in the future: 50 million, 40 million and 30 million passengers. We haven’t determined which level we will adopt.”
He said the ministry was also planning to construct a third terminal and runway at the airport.
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director-General Lee Lung-wen (李龍文) said the three levels Mao spoke about referred to the airport’s maximum passenger capacity, not the goals the CAA had set for passenger volume each year.
Lee said the CAA and the consulting firm were still evaluating which level would be a more practical choice.
“When you have this kind of project, you also have to plan for the development for the next 15 to 20 years,” Lee said.
Lawmakers on the committee, including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) and Tsai Chi-long (蔡錦隆) as well as Democratic Progressive Party legislators Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and Kuo Wen-cheng (郭玟成), questioned Mao about the benefits the establishment of the International Airport Co was expected to bring.
Kuo also asked Mao about the competitiveness of the Taoyuan airport, since many manufacturers have moved to China, while a number of airlines prefer to transfer flights in either Hong Kong or Singapore.
In response, Mao said that raising passenger volumes at Taoyuan airport was indeed a “great challenge.”
“In the past eight years, we have not invested many resources in the development of airports and seaports. Now we have to catch up,” the minister said.
Mao said the ministry hoped to turn Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport into a hub for Northeast and Southeast Asia.