Taiwan Today

Asia's newest and one of its biggest and best equipped airports has just been opened in Tai­wan. The Chiang Kai-shek International Airport was dedicated (above) on February 21 and open­ed to traffic a few days later. Communications Minister Lin Chin-sheng presided at the cere­monies, which were attended by more than 2,000 government officials and dignitaries. Named for the late President Chiang Kai-shek, the airport near Taoyuan is a 40-minute drive from downtown Taipei and has initial capacity of 5 million pas­sengers and 200,000 metric tons of freight an­nually. The runway of 3,660 meters is 60 meters wide and able to accommodate 42 flights hourly.

 

 

 

CKS Airport cost US$286 million and replaces Sungshan International Air­port in Taipei as the principal gateway to Taipei. Sungshan remains as the airport for domestic flights. Facilities at CKS include all the newest aids to speed arriving and departing passengers through the formalities and assure their comfort. At present this means handling 86 flights of 14 airlines and some 10,000 passengers daily. By 1990, the number of passengers is ex­pected to be about 10 million annually. Guidance systems and other safety provisions at Chiang Kai-shek International are the most extensive in Asia.

The setting of the CKS Airport is close to the sea in a thinly populated area. Prevailing winds mean that most take-offs will be in the direction of the ocean. Minister Lin Chin-sheng said that the Concorde could be accommodated without concern for noise. By contrast, take-offs and landings at the old airport in Taipei were over heavily popu­lated areas and there was no further room for ex­pansion. CKS took nearly five years to construct.