The Chinese-language Liberty Times newspaper broke the news Sept. 1. During an official ceremony that day, Premier Su Tseng-chang said that, when the airport was built 28 years ago, the government had planned to call it Taoyuan Airport but had switched names shortly before its February 26, 1979 inauguration.
Su claimed that, during a telephone conversation with Taoyuan Magistrate Chu Li-luan of the opposition Kuomintang, Chu had supported the change and said the new name would better suit the needs of the country. Chu later said he wanted to keep CKS in the new name. The airport is located approximately 40 kilometers from downtown Taipei and, at present, takes around 50 minutes by car or bus to reach. A rapid transit system line connecting the capital with the airport is expected to cut that time to around 35 minutes after completion in 2012.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei said the change was not politically motivated, a claim he backed by using the examples of Narita and Hokkaido airports in Japan. The revision would not affect the airport's three-letter international code, which is TPE.
Meanwhile, the Geneva-based regulatory body for international air transport, the International Air Transport Association, said that changing an airport's name was a domestic affair to be carried out at the discretion of the country's ruling authority. As long as the IATA airport code remained unchanged, a change would in no way affect fare booking or baggage handling, the semi-official Central News Agency quoted an IATA spokesperson as saying Sept. 1.
A number of Taiwan's opposition politicians have questioned this move, however, arguing that unless the new name boosts airport business, it would be meaningless and unnecessary. People First Party legislative caucus whip Lee Hung-chun said "It is obvious that President Chen Shui-bian is trying to divert the public's attention to other things, so the people will not focus on all the corruption allegations against his close aides and family members."
Legislator Yeh Yi-jin of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, on the other hand, said that her party supported the policy, as the new name would make it easier for the international community to recognize the location of the airport. Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Liao Pen-yen called it the most welcome move in Chen's six-year presidency.
Last year, approximately 22 million passengers and 150,000 airplanes landed, departed or transited the airport, which also had a total cargo volume of around 1.7 billion kilograms, according to data on the airport's Web site.