Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE/RCTP) Taipei, Taiwan

The new terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TTIA), formerly Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Taipei International Airport, Taiwan, was inaugurated on 28 July 2000. Its opening stimulated rapid development in the area surrounding the airport.

The Executive Yuan of the current President Chen Shui-bian's administration officially approved the name change of the airport to 'Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport' on 6 September 2006.

TAIWAN TAOYUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

In 1996, 12 million passengers were travelling in and out of Taiwan. By 1999, this figure had leapt to 17 million. Flights quadrupled in number and then quadrupled again to cope with this. TTIA is today one of the busiest airports in Asia and the world.

Terminal 1 was originally designed to handle only eight million passengers per year (including arrivals, departures and transits). Repeated upgrades have increased this capacity to more than 17 million passengers a year. At the outset, TTIA Terminal 2 handled 3.4 million passengers a year, but this number quickly rose to equal the capacity of Terminal 1.

The total capacity of the two terminals together will thus reach 34 million passengers a year. This dramatic expansion will lead to more aircraft using TTIA facilities, more frequent flights on an expanded route network and reduced processing times for passengers and cargo.

The plan to construct Terminal 2 was conceived in 1989 because of the massive anticipated increases in demand for aviation services. The airport has two runways 6/24 (3,350m) and 5/23 (3,660m).

TERMINAL 2

Terminal 2 was opened in July 2000. The terminal originally opened with only half of the gates operational. The expansion project took nine years to construct, costing a total of $729m, and was a central part of the government's plans to promote Taiwan as an Asia-Pacific air transportation hub.

Terminal 2 has four floors above ground and two floors below ground. It is 47.6m tall and has a floor area of over 300,000m² (including the north concourse). The terminal was designed to handle 17 million passengers per year, and has 20 gates (including ten on the north concourse) capable of handling B-747 or larger aircraft. In addition, seven remote parking stands provide extra parking spaces as required.

Terminal 2 sits on 7.5 million ft² of land and has the capacity to hold up to 4,000 cars in the parking lot. It can handle 10,000 passengers a day while still only using half of the available space.

The south concourse is used by nine airlines. The terminal was not fully used until late 2002, when the north concourse became operational. At that point the passenger load was split evenly between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 – an estimated 30,000 passengers a day via each terminal. In 2000, Terminal 2 had ten gates open and by 2002 ten more were in use.

Terminal 2 is large, bright and airy. It contains two duty-free shops, three restaurants, three snack bars, more than ten stores (placing an emphasis on traditional Taiwanese products and artefacts), a business centre with full internet connections and a transit hotel with 21 fully equipped rooms.

The facility was equipped with a centralised computer system, which has increased efficiency and speed at the centre.

Furthermore, new automated baggage handling was installed, which reduces the time it takes passengers to come off the plane, receive their baggage and leave the airport.

Due to many transit passengers transferring between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, a free shuttle bus service runs every 15 minutes from both terminals. An elevated railway dubbed a People-Mover System (PMS) became operational in June 2002 to provide more convenient ground transportation to transit passengers.

TERMINAL 3

Construction of Terminal 3 is due to begin in 2008, but it is expected that no more international flights will be added. Organisers are planning instead to convert Terminal 1 to a domestic port only and utilise Terminals 2 and 3 for international flights.

In addition to this, a new runway will be added to the new terminal, giving TTIA a total of three runways. Also, a rapid transit line connecting the airport to Taipei City is under construction, which will link Terminals 1, 2 and in the future 3, together.