HUGE UPGRADE:
Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport’s passenger capacity will increase from 37 million to 82 million travelers per year, an official said.

• By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter, TAOYUAN

The north hall of Terminal 3 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is scheduled to begin operations in the middle of next year, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) ​​said yesterday.

The Terminal 3 project was launched because the number of air passengers using the country’s largest international airport each year already exceeds the combined capacity of Terminals 1 and 2.

The two existing terminals were designed to accommodate 37 million air travelers per year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 48.36 million people used the airport in 2019.

Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times

The airport operator organized an excursion to the construction sites of Terminal 3 for reporters yesterday.

TIAC Chairman Yang Wei-fuu (楊偉甫) told reporters that 26 million air travelers used the airport last month and that the number of air travelers this year may reach 44 million to 45 million, about 92 to 94 percent of the 2019 level.

Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport’s passenger capacity will increase from 37 million to 82 million travelers per year, Yang said.

The company estimates that over 50 million passengers will use the airport annually by 2028.

According to the company’s plans, Terminal 3 will be used primarily for flights between North America and Southeast Asian countries offered by China Airlines, EVA Airways and Starlux Airlines.

Last month, around 3.936 million transit passengers entered the country, compared to 3.46 million in the same period last year.

About 77 percent of the airport’s transit passengers traveled between North America and Southeast Asia this year, according to TIAC data.

According to the data, about 40 percent of transit travelers from the United States or Canada flew to Southeast Asian countries.

So far, 42.3 percent of the Terminal 3 project – the terminal, taxiways, runways, substations, an energy center and an office building – have been completed, which is about 1 percent behind schedule, the company said.

Although the entire Terminal 3 project will not be completed until 2027, the north hall is scheduled to be opened in the middle of next year, which would add eight more aircraft parking spaces to the airport, the company said.

The cost of the project is currently estimated at NT$128.37 billion (US$3.97 billion), up from the previous estimate of NT$95.6 billion due to inflation and other factors, the company said.

The terminal itself costs around NT$44.53 billion. Its roof area is around 100,000 m2, which is almost three times the size of the Taipei Dome. The total floor area is around 580,000 m2, the company said.

Yang cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the high turnover of migrant workers as the biggest challenges for the project. He added that the migrant worker problem was solved by changing recruitment agencies.

TIAC suffered significant financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and transformed from a profitable company into an indebted one.

Last year, the company’s financial losses amounted to NT$5.4 billion, Yang said.

“We have a very good chance of making up for the losses this year with the return of air travelers. However, we still need to spend about NT$300 billion in the next few years to build the third runway and other infrastructure,” he said.