[pttwarrior]

Source: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201803070023.aspx

Airports being expanded amid 'Go South' efforts

2018/03/07

March 7 (CNA) Projects to expand the capacity of the main international airports in central and southern Taiwan are being stepped up in anticipation of more travel between Taiwan and Southeast Asia because of the government's "New Southbound Policy."

"We are accelerating the pace of renovating the Kaohsiung International Airport in response to the New Southbound Policy," Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) official Lin Hung-hsien (林宏憲) told CNA on Wednesday.

"The renovation of the Kaohsiung airport is now projected to be completed in 2025, three years ahead of schedule," he said.

By that time, the terminal that currently serves only domestic fights will be able to accommodate 4 million international flight passengers and 1 million domestic flight passengers, bringing the airport's total capacity to 11 million passengers per year, he said.

The domestic terminal now handles some 1 million passengers a year, while the terminal for overseas flights serves 6 million passengers.

The expansion project also includes building new aprons and a public transport access system at an estimated cost of NT$25.2 billion (US$850 million), according to Lin.

Though the New Southbound Policy helped spur an increase in tourists from Southeast Asia in 2017, Kaohsiung International Airport handled about the same number of passengers in 2017 (6.47 million) that it did in 2016 (6.40 million), CAA data showed.



The New Southbound Policy is aimed at increasing trade and other forms of exchanges between Taiwan and countries in South and Southeast Asia along with Australia and New Zealand.

The policy was adopted in May 2016 when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office to reduce Taiwan's economic dependence on China.

It has helped offset the drop in visitor arrivals from China after Tsai assumed power by boosting visitors from Southeast Asia, especially from Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.