Frequently unused airports should be shut down

The Atayals rebelled on October 27, killing altogether 134 Japanese, including women and children, at an elementary school in Wushe. An infantry regiment was dispatched to attack the rebels who withdrew into their mountain reservation to continue their guerrilla war against the Japanese. In the end, a few bombing runs were made over Lushan to smoke the Atayals out for surrender.

A domestic airport was opened in Pingtung alongside the air force base not very long ago. It is of little use.

Only a few passengers used the domestic airport before the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation started offering its high speed service between Taipei and Kaohsiung early last year. The HSR is the terminator of the Pingtung airport. Currently, three weekly flights are made between Taipei and Pingtung. A couple of days ago, there were only 12 passengers on a flight. The passenger turnover rate at Pingtung is about one percent. And yet the Civil Aeronautics Administration has to keep a staff of more than a dozen to run the domestic airport, which one Kuomintang lawmaker describes as a colossal nest of mosquitoes.

He urged that the airport be closed for good. It makes sense. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is seriously considering the termination of the useless airport.

There are other near-empty domestic airports. One at Hengchun, which is quite near Pingtung, is seldom used by tourists from Taipei. The Taichung airport fares a little better, but its passenger turnover is miserably low. Even the largest international airport on Taiwan, which is at Taoyuan, has been seeing fewer and fewer passengers arrive and leave.

The plain fact is that there are not enough air passengers, both domestic and foreign. And next to nothing can be done to improve the situation, which may get worse before it gets better. If China orders a halt to the influx of Chinese tourists, all airports on Taiwan, as well as on the Pescadores, may follow in the footsteps of Pingtung.

Mao Chih-kuo, minister of transportation and communications, has to make a review of our airport service and close those airports that are not frequented by passengers.

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