Taichung Airport has been upgraded to Taichung International Airport, and Taichung City Government has adopted the policy of “Arriving in Taichung and Departing from Taichung” to promote international tourism, targeting international destinations in Asia that are within 3-5 hours of Taichung International Airport. Furthermore, appeals have been made to the Central Government to upgrade the airport terminal, apron and taxiways in order to meet the standards of an international and domestic airport. In particular, the north side cross-field taxiway is slated for inauguration on June 1, and the MOTC will invest over NT$ 1 billion to construct overnight aprons and renovate the domestic terminal, hoping to increase annual service volume of the airport.

According to Tourism and Travel Bureau of Taichung City, Taichung International Airport’s annual service volume as increased from 2.34 million passengers in 2015 to 2.38 million passengers in 2016. However, it is still a joint military/civilian airport and civilian aircrafts are only permitted to take off and land during 07:00-23:00; in order to comply with international/domestic airport specifications, the airport terminal, aprons and taxiways must be expanded as soon as possible. Most importantly is to construct a runway reserved exclusively for civilian aircrafts in order to separate military and civilian aircraft traffic and prevent interference from affecting the air traffic control system. The programs are all incorporated into the overall planning of Taichung International Airport.

With appeals from the City Government, Civil Aeronautics Administration, MOTC’s “Central Taiwan International Phase One Development Project – Stage 2 Construction” intends to build 2 additional cross-field taxiways. In light of considerations such as shortening the taxiing distance of aircrafts, conserving fuel and time, the priority is to build the more urgently needed north side cross-field second taxiway first. The taxiway is scheduled to be inaugurated on June 1.

In addition, in response to the rapid growth of service volume and to alleviate the condition of saturated aprons, MOTC also agreed to construct overnight and remote parking aprons at a total cost of NT$ 289,844,000. After completion, 7 type 4C aprons will be created. The construction project has been commissioned to a contractor and it is slated for completion in August 2018. As for the domestic terminal renovation project, it will be consolidated under the international terminal plan; it is estimated that the annual service volume will increase to more than 3.05 million passengers. MOTC has commissioned a contractor to manage and design the project.

Moreover, MOTC is also undertaking “2035 Overall Plan for Taichung International Airport”, which assesses airport specifications according to an annual service volume of 6 million passengers. The overall planning report is expected to be finished this month.

Tourism and Travel Bureau of Taichung City also points out that in an effort to stay in touch with international cities, the City Government has adopted an “Arrive in Taichung and Depart from Taichung” approach to promoting international tourism. Furthermore, through strategic deployments such as forging sister city relations, regional tourism alliance as well as reinforcing international exchange and dispersing inbound tourist traffic etc., Asian destinations within 3-5 hours of flight from Taichung City were developed. From the end of 2015 to April 2017, 11 new destinations were successfully developed. Currently, there are 10 international flight destinations, including Hong Kong, Macau, Okinawa, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Seoul, Osaka, Oita, Nagoya and Nagasaki. In addition, there are 26 flight destinations across the Strait, including Hangzhou and Wuxi.

The annual service volume increased from 1.28 million passengers in 2010 to 2.38 million in 2016, a growth of over 86%, setting a brand new record. International flights also increased from 58 flights to 77 flights between 2015 and late March 2017, demonstrating a growth of 33%. In addition to VietJet Air operating the Taichung to Ho Chi Minh flight, Tigerair Taiwan also operates flights from Taichung to Macau, and Thai VietJet Air is expected to launch the Taichung to Bangkok flight in July this year.