Taiwan Today

Taipei Songshan Airport has carved out a niche by offering convenient connections to downtown airports in Northeast Asia.

The July 4, 2008 departure of a Uni Air direct charter flight from Taipei International Airport—more commonly known as Taipei Songshan Airport (TSA) because of its location in Taipei City’s Songshan District—to Shanghai marked a breakthrough not only for Taiwan’s relations with mainland China, but also for the airport itself. Chen Jau-yuh (陳昭諭), TSA deputy director, says that prior to the opening of flights across the Taiwan Strait, the airport’s development had stagnated. “Opening regular cross-strait direct flights was a turning point for us,” she says. “It defined our role. Now we know where we’re going and what to do to improve our services.”

In fact, the airport’s role has changed several times since it was built in 1936 by the Japanese, Taiwan’s colonial rulers from 1895 to 1945. Known as the Matsuyama Airdrome under the Japanese, the airbase played a key role in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937 and became part of World War II in 1941. In addition to handling military flights, the airport served as a hub for planes carrying civilians and cargo. Hung Chih-wen (洪致文), an associate professor in the Department of Geography at National Taiwan Normal University, is known for his research on Taiwan’s railway and aviation history. Hung says historical documents indicate that international civilian flights, mostly serving wealthy travelers and transporting cargo, departed from TSA to Bangkok as well as Fukuoka and Yokohama in Japan during the early war years.

After the end of World War II, the airport was taken over by the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force, though civilian flight services between Taipei and Shanghai continued until 1949, when the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. A series of name changes ensued, with the airfield rechristened Civil Aeronautics Administration Taipei Airport in 1950 and Taipei International Airport in 1965. The name changes did not affect the airport’s role, however, as it continued serving as a hub for domestic and international flights carrying cargo, civilians and military personnel. Before China Airlines, the ROC’s flag carrier, started providing international civilian flight services in 1970, TSA hosted foreign airlines that served international destinations including Hong Kong, Manila, Pusan, Seattle and Tokyo.

The airport was renovated and expanded several times as the number of domestic and international flights grew. An early effort to extend runways to serve larger planes began in 1955, for example, while civilian and military facilities were separated in 1961. That split sent military operations to a different part of the airfield and allowed the civilian side to expand into the newly vacated space.

A major renovation led by architect Wang Da-hong (王大閎) was launched in 1970; the exterior of the main terminal has remained largely the same since that time. Though the renovation was aimed at helping TSA handle more traffic, the growing number of flights and passengers soon outstripped the airport’s capacity. The rise in traveler numbers led to frequent complaints about long waits to check in and clear customs. The renovation also did not address TSA’s biggest weakness: lack of room to grow. “We’re in downtown Taipei,” Chen says. “That means that we’re surrounded by areas that have already been developed for residential or commercial uses and there isn’t the possibility for further expansion.”

The growing amount of air traffic had a negative impact on the quality of life in surrounding communities. The problem was worst at night, when the rumbling of the jet engines of large international airliners made sleeping difficult. To solve the space and noise problems, in the mid-1970s the government began constructing a new airport some 40 kilometers away in a less densely populated area of Taoyuan County. All international flights were shifted to the newly constructed Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, TTIA) in 1979, while TSA began serving only domestic flights. That move was welcomed by those living near the airport in Songshan District, as it put an end to late-night flights. The ban continues today, as civil aircraft are prohibited from taking off or landing between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The TSA remains capable of operating 24 hours a day, however, to handle emergency situations and the occasional military flight.

Good News, Bad News

The good news was that moving international flights to TTIA gave the older airport time to conduct some long-overdue repair work and upgrades. The bad news was that the domestic aviation market was not particularly active as the 1970s were drawing to a close. Chen notes that the factors behind the decline in local flights included the completion of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway in 1978 and the electrification of the entire West Trunk Line railway in 1979, both of which increased the convenience of land travel between northern and southern Taiwan.

As TTIA had taken over TSA’s role as the gateway to Taiwan and the domestic aviation market continued to decline, voices calling for the older airport’s closure began to be heard. Political leaders argued for closure from an urban development point of view, as building height restrictions imposed to allow aircraft sufficient space during landings and takeoffs had long limited development of the area. Furthermore, while evening hours around TSA were quieter after TTIA opened, local residents continued to express concerns about noise pollution.

Many of those who wanted to close TSA called for moving all of the airport’s functions to TTIA. The problem with that approach was that TTIA did not have enough capacity to handle the additional traffic. Others called for moving the domestic flight hub to a Taipei suburb. Toward that end, the Taipei City Government and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications evaluated a series of locations on the city’s outskirts as possible sites for a new airport, but were unable to find a suitable place.

It was not until the economy started to boom in 1983 that the domestic aviation market began a gradual recovery. The market entered a golden age in 1987, when the government responded to increasing congestion on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway and complaints about sub-par railway services by introducing an open sky policy deregulating the local airline industry, which had been strictly controlled up to that point. As a result, Taiwan soon saw seven airline companies offering competing services on domestic routes. “At the peak, we had a Taipei-Kaohsiung flight taking off every 10 minutes,” Chen recalls of departures from the northern capital to the largest city in southern Taiwan. “We were even busier than a bus station.” In 1997, TSA served 15 million passengers, an all-time high.

The domestic airline industry’s growth soon came to a halt, however. Driving became easier when the northern section of the Formosa Freeway, the west coast’s second major north-south artery, was completed in August 1997. Two fatal air crashes in other parts of Taiwan in 1998 also led would-be local flyers to look for other forms of transportation. All told, in 1998 the number of passengers using domestic flights dropped by 10 percent compared with 1997.

The biggest blow to the domestic aviation market came in early 2007, when high-speed railway services began that reduced the time for a rail trip from Taipei to Kaohsiung to about one-and-a-half hours. Although flight time between the two cities is only 40 minutes and domestic airlines attempt to attract customers by selling tickets that are cheaper than high-speed rail tickets, the speedy train is still preferred by many, as there is no need to check or claim baggage. In 2007, Taipei-Kaohsiung air traffic dropped by 50 percent compared with the previous year. The dwindling number of passengers put an end to domestic flights from TSA to Taichung, central Taiwan and Chiayi, southern Taiwan that same year. “The high-speed rail was a knockdown blow for domestic airports,” Chen says. “At the time, our check-in lobby was like an empty skating rink where you could skate all the way across without running into anyone.”

Fortunately, TSA’s days as an empty skating rink did not last too long, thanks to improving cross-strait relations. Throughout his 2002–2006 second term as Taipei mayor and during his successful presidential campaign in 2008, ROC President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promoted the airport’s potential to serve as the city’s main cross-strait transportation hub by emphasizing its convenient location in the nation’s economic center. After taking office in May 2008, Ma quickly set about implementing that vision. Weekend charter flights between Taiwan and mainland Chinese airports began in July that year and daily flights started five months later. From July to the end of 2008, TSA saw the arrival or departure of 1,033 cross-strait flights serving more than 150,000 passengers. With about 270 direct flights between Taipei and 12 airports in mainland China each week, TSA is now Taiwan’s busiest cross-strait air hub.

In the Center of It All

Chen says the greater passenger loads from downtown airports show that travelers appreciate the benefit of arriving and departing in city centers. The passenger load for flights from TTIA to Shanghai Pudong International Airport is 77.8 percent, she notes, while the occupancy for flights from TSA to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, both of which are located closer to the center of their respective cities, is 84.5 percent. “Time is especially important for business travelers,” she says. “It gives them a much more efficient way to manage their time because the airport is only a few minutes away.”

TSA reached a milestone in 2008 when the Taipei City Government designated the main terminal as a historic building. Wang Chih-ching (王志青), chief of the airport’s Planning Section, says that designation was made to recognize TSA’s role as Taiwan’s first international airport. While historic status is an honor for the airport, it has also resulted in a degree of inconvenience, as the exterior of the main terminal cannot be modified, though there is no restriction on interior changes.

Chen notes that while TSA’s location in downtown Taipei hampered its development in the past, the airport’s ability to provide city-to-city flights is now its biggest drawing card, especially among business travelers. To capitalize on that advantage, the government launched the Northeast Asian Golden Aviation Circle project in 2010, which established direct air links between TSA and Shanghai Hongqiao, as well as between TSA and Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The circle was completed in April this year when service started between TSA and Gimpo International Airport in Seoul.

Once again, a comparison of passenger loads reveals the popularity of international direct flights to and from airports located close to city centers. The occupancy of flights from TTIA to Narita International Airport outside Tokyo is 70 percent, for example, while that for TSA-Haneda flights is 82 percent, Chen says.

To accommodate the growing number of cross-strait and international flights, another major renovation began at TSA in 2008. Now mostly completed, that effort has upgraded international and domestic terminals, rerouted automobile traffic in the area and seen the opening of the Songshan Airport Station on the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Wenhu Line. “We’re building a friendly, convenient, high-performance business airport for the nation’s capital,” Chen says. Travelers seem to appreciate the airport’s efforts, as passenger numbers have increased by 70 percent and aircraft movements by 18 percent since the opening of cross-strait flights in 2008.

Of course, more flights mean more noise for those living around TSA, but the airport is working to address that problem. In 2011, TSA dedicated a NT$40 million (US$1.4 million) budget to providing financial compensation to local residents and installing equipment such as noise-reducing doors and windows in area homes and schools.

Although the airport suffered an annual loss of NT$55 million (US$1.7 million) in 2010, it turned a NT$437 million (US$14.8 million) profit in 2011. Wang Chih-ching says the international routes have been particularly beneficial for revenue growth. In addition to the higher landing and takeoff fees the airport is able to charge for overseas flights, international passengers tend to spend much more than their domestic counterparts, such as for food and beverage services and duty-free shopping, he explains.

Some have expressed concerns that TSA’s recent ability to turn a profit will be threatened when construction of an MRT line connecting Taipei to TTIA is completed in 2014. The new line is expected to shuttle passengers from Taipei Railway Station, which is located in the heart of the city and is the center of its rail transportation network, to Taiwan’s biggest international airport in about 40 minutes. Chen, however, is not too worried about losing customers. “An airport, or aviation in general, is a derivative service that depends on economic development,” she says. “As long as Taipei remains the economic center of the country, [TSA will] be the most convenient door to that center, because you’re already in the city when you land.”

Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw