[williamchung taiwan]

Plans begin for airport terminal
The CAA is seeking designs for the third terminal at the airport in Taoyuan from overseas architectural teams, the CAA chief said
7 June 2010
Taipei Times

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday it will start planning the construction of a third terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this year.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo said in a briefing to President Ma Ying-jeou that the ministry aims to re-establish Taoyuan International Airport as a hub in Northeast Asia.

LOCOMOTIVE

"The cross-strait direct aviation policy has helped resume the growth of passenger flights at Taoyuan Airport," Mao said. "The next project is the Airport Zone project, which will spread the economic benefits from the airport to nearby areas. The third terminal will serve as the locomotive of the Airport Zone project."

Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Lee Lung-wen said the preliminary plan is to build an eco-friendly third terminal next to the second terminal, adding that the CAA is seeking designs from well-known architectural teams overseas.

Ma inspected the facilities at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning. Along with Mao and Lee, Ma was also accompanied by Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for Sinbei City Eric Chu. The Airport Zone project was proposed during Chu's term as Taoyuan County commissioner.

During his inspection tour, Ma examined the baggage carts and the restaurants at the airport, which have been criticized by some of the nation's celebrities. The airport should strive to bring in restaurants serving Taiwanese snacks that are normally available in Shihlin and *Liuho night markets, Ma said.

Lee said a total of 2,600 baggage carts should be in place by the end of the August, adding that there will soon be customer surveys on both the airport's restaurants and baggage carts.

Lee added there will also be a library available for passengers transiting at the airport. A third runway will be built to accommodate larger aircraft, such as the Airbus 380.

Ma also inspected the airport rail construction sites, which is scheduled to begin operation in October 2014.

The Bureau of High Speed Rail (BHSR), which is in charge of building the airport rail, is planning to offer express train services that will allow passengers from Taipei to arrive at the airport in 28 minutes.

INCENTIVE AND INCLINE

Ma, however, said the operation time should be reduced to 20 to 25 minutes if the bureau wants more people to stop driving to the airport and use the rail service instead.

"It [the system] takes such a long time to build and it moves so slowly, who will come and use it?" Ma said. "We should have the ambition to make the travel time shorter. If we could manage to make it into a 20 minute or 25 minute ride, this would be a greater incentive to use the service."

BHSR Director-General Chu Shu said that raising the speed might be a problem because a quarter of the railway section would have an incline of 3 percent or more.