According to a recent announcement from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, starting on March 31 of this year, each transiting passenger at Taoyuan International Airport will be required to pay a "transit facility usage fee" of NT$500. The cost will be collected by the airline with the ticket. This year, there are predicted to be 1.2 million transiting travelers through Taiwan, and Taoyuan International Airport's income is anticipated to rise by NT$550 million.
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Taoyuan International Airport Hall.Photo reproduced from Taoyuan International Airport Facebook
According to the deputy director(韓振華) of the Department of Navigation and Aviation, MOTC, transit passengers spend an average of 5 hours at Taoyuan International Airport. Taoyuan Airport also spent a significant amount of money on epidemic prevention during the previous epidemic, including assisting with the implementation of epidemic prevention measures and updating various hardware and software at the airport. As a result, it has been agreed to impose a "transit facility usage fee" on travelers using Taoyuan International Airport as a transit point. The deputy director also made the point that since most transit travelers are foreigners, it won't have an impact on Taiwanese citizens.
Statistics show that Taoyuan International Airport had a very low yearly passenger traffic of only 910,000 during the severe COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Several flight routes have progressively restarted with the opening of many nations' borders. According to the MOTC, there might be more than 20 million passengers this year. With 1.2 million estimated passengers, the NT$500 "transit facility usage fee" is anticipated to boost Taoyuan International Airport's earnings by NT$550 million\ this year. The Taoyuan Airport Business Fund will be injected with the fees received.