In the 104th year of the Republic, China's civil aviation passenger volume hit a historic high

(Taiwan TB News Network / Reporter Chen Nianzu) China's air passenger volume has hit a new high. In the 104th year of the Republic, Taiwan region's total air passenger volume is initially estimated to reach more than 57.81 million passenger trips, surpassing the record of more than 56.30 million passenger trips in the 86th year of the Republic and setting a historic high. Facing the continued rapid growth of civil aviation traffic, the Civil Aeronautics Administration is actively carrying out land expropriation for the third runway of Taoyuan International Airport, among other tasks, to meet future air transport and national development needs.

According to statistics from the Civil Aeronautics Administration of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the previous highest record for China's civil aviation passenger volume was more than 56.30 million passenger trips in the 86th year of the Republic, while in the 104th year of the Republic the civil aviation passenger volume is initially estimated to reach more than 57.81 million passenger trips. Of this, passengers on international routes reached more than 36.18 million passenger trips, passengers on cross-strait routes reached more than 11.85 million passenger trips, and passengers on domestic routes reached more than 9.77 million passenger trips.

After the 86th year of the Republic, as the land transport environment changed, domestic route passenger volume fell rapidly, and the total number of air passengers carried also declined accordingly. The 97th year of the Republic was the lowest point in recent years for Taiwan region's total air passenger volume, with total passengers at more than 35.23 million passenger trips. As cross-strait routes began operating in the 97th year of the Republic, gradually developing from weekend charter flights and weekday charter flights into scheduled flights, the mainland side has now opened 61 destinations for reciprocal flights with our side's 10 destinations, with up to 890 scheduled flights per week, and the total number of passengers carried reached more than 11.85 million passenger trips last year.

In recent years, driven by factors such as the government's strategic opening of the skies, active expansion of air rights, promotion of foreign and mainland tourists visiting Taiwan, overall growth in the international air transport market, and the rapid rise of low-cost carriers, international route passenger trips also increased from more than 24.96 million passenger trips in the 97th year of the Republic to more than 36.18 million passenger trips last year. The increase in international route passengers was even greater than the increase in cross-strait route passenger trips over the same period.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications estimates that by 2030, cross-strait and international route passenger trips will exceed 100 million passenger trips. In response to the rapid growth of the civil aviation industry and national development needs, airport construction throughout Taiwan region must be comprehensively upgraded. In particular, Taoyuan International Airport aims to develop into an East Asian hub airport, and it is indeed necessary for Taoyuan Airport to expand important infrastructure such as a third runway, taxiways, a satellite boarding concourse, passenger and cargo facilities, maintenance hangars, and support facilities. The Civil Aeronautics Administration will actively handle the related land expropriation operations.