Taichung Airport’s passenger traffic soared past 1.38 million from January to May. It is more convenient than peach machines, but it suffers from “two major weaknesses”

There are only two luggage carousels at Taichung Airport, and passengers often complain about long waits for their luggage. (Photo by reporter Zhang Xuanzhe)

The number of international flights at Taichung International Airport has increased, and the traffic volume has exceeded the pre-epidemic level. There are 31 international routes. From January to May this year, there were 1.38 million international inbound and outbound passengers at Taichung International Airport, including cross-strait routes. However, Taichung Airport takes too long to wait for luggage for inbound flights in the afternoon, and there is a serious shortage of parking spaces for automobiles. Passengers from central China pointed out that Taichung Airport would be more popular among passengers if it could improve the parking and traffic difficulties and shorten the baggage collection time.

According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration, during Lin Jialong's administration eight years ago, Taichung International Airport handled a total of 2.63 million international inbound and outbound passengers in 2018. At that time, there were 23 routes, including 14 scheduled routes and 9 unscheduled routes; last year, there were more than 1.71 million inbound and outbound passengers from Taichung International Airport. Since the beginning of this spring, six new routes have been added to Miyakojima, Tokyo, Kumamoto, Chiang Mai, Dalat and Qingsu; regular flights to Chengdu, Qingdao and Sapporo have been added since July. In the first five months of this year, Taichung Airport's passenger traffic has reached more than 1.38 million people. It is estimated that the total traffic this year will increase from 2.75 million last year.

Taichung Airport currently has 11 StarAir routes and only 2 luggage carousels. Most international flights arrive in the afternoon. If two flights arrive at the same time, passengers will have to wait for nearly half an hour to get their luggage, and some passengers even wait for nearly an hour. Most passengers pointed out that although the waiting time for luggage is longer, the overall entry and exit time is still more convenient than Taoyuan.

In addition, the parking problem has been an old problem at Taichung International Airport for many years. From before the epidemic in 2019 to the present, the number of public parking spaces at the airport has hardly increased. Even fake parking spaces are hard to find. Many airport employees are no longer able to rent car spaces in private parking lots on a monthly basis and instead take buses to commute. Even motorcycles can only find open spaces nearby to park.

In this regard, Taichung Airport emphasized that there is currently insufficient hinterland to build parking lots.

It's hard to find a parking space for cars and motorcycles at Taichung Airport. (Photo by reporter Zhang Xuanzhe)