Airport Delay Fails to Quell Taichung Demand

Airport Delay Fails to Quell Taichung Demand
Taipei Times, Taiwan

Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004
 
Taichung residents have rushed to sign up for the
first international flights from the city, despite a
delay that has put the opening of the Taichung
international airport on hold until March 5, the Civil
Aero-nautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.

The first international flights were due to depart
Chingchuankang International Airport on Feb 27,
however, CAA Director General Billy Chang (±i°ê¬F)
told reporters yesterday that the airport's launch had
been put back to coordinate with a revised
charter-flight schedule.

Chang said that the delay would allow more time for
the completion of safety inspections and other
necessary measures.

"The airport is currently undergoing safety
inspections, but all required inspections will be
completed by March," Chang said.

The airport's first flights have been chartered by the
Taichung Chamber of Commerce to take several
government officials and residents to Phuket, Palau
and Tokyo.

While each flight can only seat a maximum of 120
passengers, more than 3,800 residents signed up with
the chamber for the three travel packages.

The chamber held a random draw yesterday to pick the
360 passengers for the three flights. It said that
1,700 passengers had signed up to travel to Thailand,
1,100 to Palau and 1,000 to Japan.

Lai Cheng-i (¿à¥¿Âï), president of the chamber of
commerce, said that China Airlines and Far Eastern Air
Transport would service the charter flights.

Meanwhile, Chang said that the airport, which will be
the country's third international airport, would be a
standard international airport once it opened. 

He said, however, that no airline companies had
applied for scheduled routes departing from the new
facility.

"While there have been rumors as to which airline
companies will offer international flights from the
new airport, it is too early to say for sure," Chang
said.

"Also, due to the limitations posed by the size of the
airport's runway, a maximum of three airline companies
will be able to offer services from the airport,"
Chang said.

In October 2002 the Ministry of Transportation and
Communications approved plans to upgrade Taichung's
Shuinan Airport to an international airport by
relocating it to the Chingchuankang military airbase
and expanding the airbase to accommodate both civilian
and military needs.

Shuinan Airport will close on March 6.

To mark the new airport's opening, Chunghwa Post has
prepared a special edition of stamps, while Chunghwa
Telecom will offer commemorative phone cards. 


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