Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE/RCTP), Taiwan

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TTIA) is situated in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. The airport is operated by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

TTIA was formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Taipei International Airport, the Executive Yuan of the former President Chen Shui-bian's administration officially approved the name change of the airport to 'Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport' on 6 September 2006.

TTIA has two runways 6/24 (3,350m) and 5/23 (3,660m). It is currently one of the busiest airports in Asia and the world. The airport handled passenger traffic of approximately 21.6m in 2009.

Taoyuan terminal 1

Terminal 1, opened in 1979, was originally designed to handle only 8m passengers per year (including arrivals, departures and transits). Repeated upgrades have increased this capacity to more than 17m passengers a year.

Terminal 1 is currently being renovated and all the works are expected to be completed by 2011. The $57.4m renovation project includes construction of new parking garages and renovation of the arrival and departure halls. Upon completion of the project, the terminal's capacity is expected to increase even further.

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 plan to construct Terminal 2 was conceived in 1989 because of the massive anticipated increases in demand for aviation services.

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 17m 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 7.5m 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 2 handled 3.4m passengers a year, but this number quickly rose to equal the capacity of Terminal 1.

Terminal 3

A new $1.9bn Terminal 3 is planned for construction at the airport. The new terminal will cover an area of 421,000m² and is expected to be completed by 2020.

In addition, the runways and taxiways will be expanded at a cost of NT$10.7bn. The expansion works are expected to be completed by 2014.

Ground transportation

Numerous buses and taxis operate to and from the airport. A rapid transit line connecting the airport to Taipei City is under construction and is expected to open by 2013. The line will link Terminals 1, 2 and upcoming terminal 3 together.