Taipei Songshan Airport offers convenient connections to Northeast Asia.
The July 4, 2008 departure for Shanghai of a Uni Air direct charter flight from Taipei International Airport— more commonly known as Taipei Songshan Airport (TSA)—marked a breakthrough not only for Taiwan’s relations with mainland China, but also for the airport itself. Chen Jau-yuh, TSA deputy director, says that prior to the opening of direct flights across the Taiwan Strait, the airport’s development had all but 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.”
Watching planes at Taipei Songshan Airport is popular with many visitors. TSA is now Taiwan’s busiest cross-strait hub, offering about 270 direct flights between Taipei and 12 airports in mainland China each week.
The airport’s role has changed several times since it was built in 1936 during Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945). Known as Matsuyama Airdrome under the Japanese, the airbase played a key role in World War II. At the end of the war, the airport was taken over by the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force, though civilian flights 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 domestic aviation market cooled in the 1970s, Chen says. The completion of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway in 1978 and the electrification of the entire West Trunk Line railway in 1979 both increased the convenience of land travel. Also in 1979, Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) opened and began receiving the lion’s share of international air traffic.
While domestic air travel picked up in the 1980s, it faltered again when the northern section of the Formosa Freeway, the west coast’s second major northsouth artery, was completed in August 1997. The biggest blow to the market came in early 2007, when high-speed railway services began that reduced the time for a Taipei- Kaohsiung rail trip to about one-and-a-half hours. “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.”
Fortunately, TSA’s days as an empty skating rink did not last long as improved cross-strait relations injected new life into the airport. Weekend charter flights between Taiwan and mainland Chinese airports began in July 2008 and daily flights started five months later. In 2011, TSA saw the arrival or departure of 7,308 cross-strait flights serving some 1.2 million passengers. With about 270 direct flights between Taipei and 12 airports in mainland China each week, TSA is now Taiwan’s busiest crossstrait air hub. The once-marginal airport has achieved a newfound relevance.
Part of this renewed relevance includes—in fact, necessitates—Taiwan’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations created in 1944 that sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security and efficiency. In addition to being one of the Asia-Pacific’s largest economic powers, Taiwan is a key transportation hub in the region.
The Taipei Flight Information Region—Taiwan’s sector of airspace in which flight information and alerting services are provided—serves dozens of domestic and international airliners carrying more than 40 million passengers every year, making the island an essential link in the international civil aviation network. Despite this responsibility, Taiwan is excluded from the ICAO.
A recent bid for observer status in the body has garnered strong legislative support from the US Congress, with the House passing September 11 this year Senate Concurrent Resolution 17, which stated that, “Taiwan should be accorded observer status in the ICAO.” If the bid is successful, it would help Taiwan better comply with the aviation body’s Standards and Recommended Practices and contribute to the efficiency and safety of international flights, flight plans, regulations and procedures.
Chen notes that, while TSA’s location in downtown Taipei may have hampered its development in the past, the airport’s ability to provide city-to-city flights is now its biggest drawing card. 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.
“We’re building a friendly, convenient, high-performance business airport for the nation’s capital,” TSA’s Chen says.
